Lacus Argenteus
by The Wyrd Sisters
Summary: In 'The Order of the Phoenix', Harry saw his father, Sirius, Remus, Peter Lily and Snape takeing their OWLs exams. But what happened next? To the boys' horror, five Hufflepuff girls stumble across them on the night of the full moon...
1. Exams

The fifth year, a boy called James Potter, straightened up, put down his quill and pulled his roll of parchment towards him so as to reread what he had written. James yawned hugely and rumpled his black hair, making it even messier than it had been. Then, with a glance towards Professor Flitwick, he turned in his seat and grinned at the boy sitting four seats behind him.

His name was Sirius Black, and was one of James' closest friends. He was lounging in his chair at his ease, tilting it back on two legs. Sirius was very good- looking; his dark hair fell into his eyes in a sort of casual elegance that James' could never have achieved. A white-blonde girl sitting behind him was eyeing him hopefully, though he didn't seem to have noticed. Next to her sat a pretty Chinese girl, who was still scribbling desperately, although her gaze did sometimes wander in James' direction. At the desk next to her was a pale Gryffindor boy named Remus Lupin. He too was absorbed in his exam paper: he reread his answers and scratched his chin with the end of his quill, frowning slightly. Behind him sat a mousy-haired boy with a pointed nose. Peter Pettigrew (that was his name) looked anxious; he was chewing his fingernails, staring down at his paper and scuffing the ground with his toes. Every now and then he glanced hopefully at his neighbour's paper. She, like Remus, was rereading her work in a relaxed manner, allowing her messy blonde hair to fall limply in her eyes.

'Quills down, please!' squeaked Professor Flitwick. 'That means you too, Miss Macmillian! Please remain in your seats while I collect your parchment! Accio!'

Over a hundred rolls of parchment zoomed into the air and into Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, knocking him backwards off his feet. Several people laughed. A couple of students at the front desks got up, took hold of Professor Flitwick beneath the elbows and lifted him back on to his feet.

'Thank you...Thank you,' panted Professor Flitwick. 'Very well, everybody, you are free to go!'

The blonde girl, who was next to Peter, stood up and tossed her exam paper unceremoniously into her bag. Catching Peter watching her, she glared angrily at him.

'I saw you copying me, you know!' she said sharply.

'I'm sorry, Katie!' he whimpered. 'I was really stuck on the werewolf question and I saw you'd done it and...don't tell Flitwick, please!'

'No...no I won't,' Katie replied. 'But I'll tell your sister. No doubt Nazia will send an owl to your mother. Maybe then you'll bother to revise!'

'Hey, Katie!' said a voice behind her. 'How did you find it?'

'Alright, I suppose,' she replied dully. 'I knew it all so... I think I did well. I reckon I got an O or an E at least. How about you?' she asked as they made their way towards the large oak doors.

'Yep, I did fine,' Nazia, Peter's sister, replied cheerfully. 'I just hope Peter did OK...'

'Hey! What did you put for question two?' asked a Chinese girl in front of them. Her name was Uranda Tam, and was one of their best friends.

'I can't really remember...' Nazia replied, looking down at the paper clasped in her hand. ''Where's Sheepe?'

'Here!' cried Rebekah Sheepe from behind them. Her blonde hair looked a startling white in the sunlight. 'I'm so happy! You know I forgot all that stuff about Grindylows just before the test, right? It didn't come up! I'm so relieved!'

A ginger girl with red cheeks joined them, not looking too happy.

'Do not talk to me,' she said moodily. 'I completely mucked that up. I am such an idiot. I so failed.'

'Don't be stupid, Rebecca!' Katie said, not able to wipe the proud smile off her face. 'I bet you did fine. You'll get at least an A.'

'My mum's gonna kill me...' Rebecca murmured.

'She won't kill you, Becci!' Uranda said. 'I'm sure she'll be very proud of you. Anyway, I think you'll have done fine. It was quite an easy paper.'

'Whatever...'

The five girls moved between the tables behind a Slytherin boy called Severus Snape, who was still absorbed in his exam paper. Round- shouldered yet angular, he walked in a twitchy manner that recalled a spider, and his oily hair was jumping about his face. They took no notice of him though. Behind them came the four Gryffindor boys: Remus, James, Sirius and Peter. Nazia engaged herself in conversation with her brother, and Remus instantly joined Rebecca, his girlfriend of four months. Within seconds the two of them became totally unaware of their friends around them, and left the Great Hall hand-in-hand. Katie continued to smile stupidly, Uranda went unusually quiet and Rebekah's ears went red.

"Those two," Sirius muttered, rolling his eyes as Rebecca and Remus walked off ahead of the rest of them. He turned to the other girls and gave them a lazy, yet slightly dazzling smile. "Makes you sick, eh?"

"Yeah!" Katie said, laughing weakly. "Yeah, a-absolutely..."

"So, ladies," James said, running a hand through his hair, messing it up yet again. "How did you find it?"

"Okay," Uranda shrugged, speaking in a barely audible voice.

"I think I did all right..." Katie's idea of how well she had done appeared to have dramatically changed in the last couple of minutes.

"I was a little relieved that Grindylows didn't come up -" Sirius began, but was cut off.

"Me too!" Rebekah gasped. "I completely forgot everything about them before, so..."

"So what?" Nazia said, coming back over with her brother.

"Just talking about the exam," Uranda explained, as the group of them headed out of the hall and toward the lake. She cleared her throat. "Well, um, we had all better be heading over... there. Right, everyone?"

"Um -" Katie, Rebekah and Nazia glanced at each other.

"Yeah. See you three later," Uranda said to the boys. "Come on." She started purposely off in the direction of the other side of the lake. The others waved good bye to Sirius, Peter and James, then followed Uranda, but not before Sirius had waved back and given them all a flirtatious wink. They all blushed at varying levels, then hurried after their friend.  
---  
"...And the one about the redkaps, I completely guessed that, and that whole section about remedies for dark attacks..." Rebecca was sitting next to Remus on a low tree branch. She'd been talking anxiously about the exam, non-stop, for the past few minutes. Remus had been waiting patiently enough, but, now he was starting to get a little bored.

"Becci, calm down," he said in his quiet voice. "You probably did a lot better than you thought."

"Well, it's easy for you to be relaxed," Rebecca said miserably, turning to face him. "Defense Against the Dark Arts is your best subject."

Remus shrugged noncomittally. "Just... lucky, I guess."

"Do you know what you want to do when you're older?" she asked, her tone changing from whiny to interested. "Because I was thinking you could teach it here."

"Maybe..."

"Becci!" Rebecca heard someone calling her name, and turned to see Nazia waving her over to the other side of the lake, standing with the others. Rebecca sighed.

"I have to go." She planted a kiss on Remus' cheek and stood up. "I'll see you after dinner, probably... Okay?" Remus nodded and smiled at her as she turned around to leave. She didn't see his expression changing to one of guilty anxiety before he headed towards his friends.

---"Oops," Rebekah muttered as their red-haired friend made her way over to them, looking a little mutinous.

"I hate you all," she said as soon as she was within earshot.

Uranda smirked. "Well, sorry we interrupted your little lovers conference, but..."

"Uranda decided that we should all just come over here for no good reason," Katie said, a note of bitterness in her voice. Uranda was saved from having to give any kind of explanation, however, as the shout of a spell was heard from across the lake. Looking over, the group of girls saw Sirius and James standing opposite Severus Snape, their wands out. Remus and Peter were sitting on the ground, Remus staring determinedly at a book, Peter glancing between James and Sirius. The girls hurried closer.

"Expelliarmus!" James shouted.

Snape's wand flew twelve feet into the air and fell with a thud in the grass behind him. Sirius let out a bark of laughter.

"Impedimenta!" he said, pointing his wand at Snape, who was knocked off his feet halfway through a dive towards his own fallen wand. Students all around had turned to watch. Some of them had got to their feet and were edging nearer. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained. Snape lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands raised, James glancing over his shoulder and some girls at the water's edge as he went. Peter was on his feet on his feet now, watching hungrily, edging around Remus to get a clearer view.

"How'd the exam go, Snivelly?" said James.

"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment," said Siris viciously. "There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word."  
Several people watching laughed; Snape was clearly unpopular. Peter sniggered shrilly, Snape was trying to get up, but the jinx was still operating on him; he was struggling, as though bound by invisible ropes.

"You - wait," he panted, staring up at James with an expression of purest loathing, "you - wait!"

"Wait for what?" said Sirius cooly. "What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?"

Snape let out a stream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away, nothing happened.

"Wash out your mouth," said James coldly. "Scourgify!" Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's motuh at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him –

"Leave him ALONE!"

James and Sirius looked round. James's free hand immediately jumped to his hair. It was one of the girls from the lake edge, whose name was Lily. She had thick, dark red hair that that fell to her shoulders, and startingly green almond-shaped eyes.

"All right, Evans?" said James, and the tone of his voice was suddenly pleasent, deeper, more mature.

"Leave him alone," Lily repeated. She was looking at James with every sign of great dislike. "What's he done to you?"

"Well," said James, appearing to deliberate the point, "it's more the fact that he exsists, if you know what I mean..."

Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Peter included, but Remus, still apparently intent on his book, didn't and nor did Lily.

"You think you're funny," she said coldly. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone."

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James quickly. "Go on..."

"Let's go back to the common room," Uranda said to her friends.

"But - I want to see what happens," Katie said.

"Well I don't." Uranda turned around and headed towards the doors.

The others shrugged, glancing back at the scene, then followed her.


	2. Quidditch and Bob

"Why did you want to go?" asked Rebekah, as they walked up the marble staircase. "I wanted to watch James and Sirius!"

"Well... did you want to see Snape being tortured?"

Rebekah appeared to be thinking hard for a moment. "I wouldn't have minded."

"Oh great." Uranda rolled her eyes.

"You didn't leave because of Snape" pointed out Katie, as she jumped over a trick stair. "You hate him as much as we do."

As they reached the top of the stairs, they took the second left and walked along the passageway. On the pale yellow walls were hanging a few portraits of the previous heads of Hufflepuff. The newest portrait, dated from 1943, showed Professor Tucker eating his way through pumpkin pasties.

"Amos wanted to talk about our match against Ravenclaw, I forgot to tell you." said Nazia suddenly.

"What match?" Katie asked.

"When did he say that?"asked Becci surprised.

"Yesterday... um... actually I think it was the day before...or maybe... hang on... I swear I told you!"The others all turned and stared at Nazia.

"Um, no, yeah he said we had to meet at 2 o' clock today!"exclaimed Nazia in a rush.

"Oh that's OK then, it's only gone 4!"Rebekah said sarcastically.

They rushed to the statue of a badger and said "Mcgee". The badger opened its mouth wide and they all slid down the small slide. The badger shut its mouth behind them. Only a few people were in their common room, lounging on the soft black armchairs. Most were outside, no doubt watching Sirius, James and Snape. The jeering and cheering down by the lake could still be heard. The five of them scanned around the room for Amos Diggory, their Quidditch captain. He was a short seventh year, with dusty brown hair and dull green eyes and happened to think he was a great Quidditch player. However, he had been seen falling off his broomstick more than the whole team put together. Becci spotted him talking to the other chaser, Kirk Higgley, by the big banner of the Hufflepuff badger. Katie, squinting, noticed that Amos had stuck a big piece of parchment on the pale yellow wall of what seemed like the Quidditch pitch.

"...and then just do a swerve to the right but look like you're going to throw to the left, Kirk. I would be on your left looking ready for the quaffle, but actually, you throw it to Rebekah who should be..."

"Amos? Do we have a match against Ravenclaw? Because if so, we're going to lose," said Becci bluntly.

"Where did you say I was meant to be?" asked Rebekah staring at the parchment.

"Oh well, flying behind Kirk because he passes backwards but it looks like he's going to pass to me. See? It's one of my best tactics!" said Amos triumphantly. Kirk, a tall third year, grinned up at them foolishly. He worshipped Amos.

Rebekah, Katie, Nazia, Becci and Uranda all looked at each other trying not to laugh. They had realised their team was doomed to lose every match they played, ever since they were chosen in their third year. Actually, it was because everyone who could actually mount a broomstick the right way had refused to sign on the Hufflepuff team, and they felt they had to volunteer. The truth was their team had barely won any matches using Amos' tactics. The last time Rebekah used his 'best' tactic, she had flown into the goal post and was left hanging upside down on her broom when Amos slammed into her.

"Well, it's a... er, great tactic but the Ravenclaws aren't, well, stupid," said Katie trying to be kind.

"And need I repeat, we're going to lose," added Becci.

"We're not going to lose! And they will be fooled! Trust me! The other times we only lost because we weren't using my tactics, well, I was and so was Kirk, but you five didn't! So this time use my damn tactics and we'll get the Cup. Seriously. We will." Amos looked at them earnestly, slightly flushed.

"OK, OK, calm down!" said Nazia, looking rather frightened.

"Actually, we lost last time because we were against Gryffindor. They all have Windslashers3 but we only have SilverSilhouettes, "Uranda muttered. Amos appeared to not have heard.

"OK, the match is on Saturday, so we have today, tomorrow and Friday to practice. Get down to the Quidditch pitch at seven. Do you want a copy of my tactics?"

"Er, no it's OK, we remember them," said Becci hastily, and began to pull the others across the room to their dormitory.

"Thanks Amos, we'll be there on time!" called Nazia over her shoulder.  
---  
"Are we going to use Amos' tactics?" asked Nazia as they flopped down onto their four poster beds with the dark yellow bedspreads.

"If you want to end up looking stupid you can," replied Rebekah, getting out a big photo album.

"What have you got in that album?" asked Katie. "You never show it to us."

Rebekah's ears went red. "No! No.. you'll just.. laugh!"

"I'll give you my last bit of the chocolate I bought in Honeydukes last week!" offered Becci sweetly. The others all looked at her in surprise.

"What?" she asked.

"Well nothing, it's just we all know you love your chocolate!" said Uranda.

"Yeah well this watermelon flavour isn't that nice."

"Oh thanks!" said Rebekah sarcastically. "I don't think I will then!" They all looked at her pleadingly. "Oh fine..." She threw down the photo album. The others leaned forward to stare at the slightly blurred, moving pictures. The pictures were either too bright or too low in tone and it hurt their eyes to look at them.

"I hope your life ambition isn't to be a photographer!" said Becci grinning.

"What are they pictures of?" asked Nazia, bending right over the photos. Becci stopped grinning when she recognised the floppy hair in the handsome face next to a boy with messy hair.

"You haven't!"

"What?" asked Katie. Then she saw it too. "Oh! Rebekah!"

"It's Sirius and James!" exclaimed Becci loudly.

This time she went red all over.  
---

"Do you know something, I'm almost looking forward to going back to lessons," Nazia said.

"I know what you mean," Becci agreed. "O.W.Ls finally over... It's like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders..."

"It also means, back to homework," Uranda said rationally.

"Ssh!" Rebekah hissed.

"I'm just saying..."

"Well, don't."

The five girls were making their way to a Charms lesson, three days after the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam.

"Just think," Becci said dreamily, "a whole two years until we do N.E.W.Ts... That's if I don't get kicked out of Hogwarts for appalling O.W.L results, of course..."

"Becci," her friends chorused in exasperated tones.

"I know, I know, shut up." They reached the Charms classroom and walked inside. Most of the Gryffindors (with whom they shared this lesson) were already there. Spotting Remus, Becci waved frantically and rushed over to sit next to him.

"Does she have to flaunt her perfect lovelife in our faces?" muttered an indignant Katie, as she and the others took their seats. Katie snuck a glance at Sirius, who was sitting in front of Remus with his feet up on the desk. James, next to him, was tossing his stolen Snitch around, as was a habit of his, and Peter (on the other Remus' other side) was discreetly studying a sheet of parchment.

"No," Uranda said, "she doesn't have to..."

Any further conversation was cut off, however, as Professor Flitwick entered the classroom.

"Good morning, everyone," he said in his squeaky voice. "Welcome back, I hope the exams weren't too stressful (Becci made a resentful noise). Now, today we'll be studying the Bubblehead Charm..."

And the lesson proceeded. Once the theory had been explained, everyone grouped up to practise the Charm on each other. Uranda and Becci paired together, and Katie, Nazia and Rebekah decided to work as a three. As was usual in these lessons, that class was soon filled with a great deal of noise and action, as students performed the Charm then dunked their heads into a large bucket of water to see if it had worked. They soon found out if it had, when they emerged coughing, spluttering, and trying to get the water out of their noses.

"For some reason," Uranda said, as she wrung out her soaking hair for the fourth time, "this isn't becoming my favourite spell."

"Just think, though," said Nazia positively, "once you've learnt it you can breathe underwater whenever you like."

"That's if I don't drown in this very classroom."

"Hey," Rebekah said, her voice almost a whisper. She pointed over to the corner of the classroom, where James, Sirius, Peter and Remus were standing together, talking in hushed voices. Rebekah held out her wand in front of her, then let it go, so it fell to the floor with a clatter. And then stayed where it was. She rolled her eyes, and nudged it with her foot, so it rolled toward the Gryffindor boys. "Oops," she gasped falsely, then dropped to her hands and knees and crawled over to her wand. She crouched behind a desk, within hearing range of James saying,

"Of course we can make it, it's not for another eight days!"

"Yeah, but sometimes it's better for me to stay out of the way for a day or so before," muttered Remus, looking a little shifty.

"Oh, come on, Moony," Sirius said, looking ten times more relaxed than Remus, "where's the fun without a bit of risk?"

"I enjoy a bit of risk as much of the rest of you -" Sirius and James snorted "- well, all right, almost as much, but not when the risk involves... you know..."

"Remus, it's never happened until the actual night of the full moon before, has it?" Peter asked.

"Well, no..."

"There we go then," James said contentedly. "You and Peter can watch the match, us two will play in it, and then we can all go out on the full moon as usual."

Remus sighed. "Fine..."

Rebekah picked up her wand, shuffled back to her friends, and straightened up.

"Becci, do you know anything about Remus and the others going out on the full moon?"

Becci shrugged. "He hasn't said anything to me about it... Why?"

"Well..." Rebekah proceeded to tell them what she had heard the boys saying. "...And then James said they could watch the match -"

"What match were they talking about? The one against Ravenclaw?" Katie interrupted.

"No, it must have been the one against Gryffindor," Rebekah replied. "The Ravenclaw match is this Saturday, (tomorrow). The Gryffindor one's next Saturday."

"I didn't know it was so soon!" Katie cried, flopping down into her seat. "Fantastic. Just fantastic."  
---  
At eleven o' clock on Saturday morning the Hufflepuff team trooped down to their changing room. Only two out of the seven were looking forward to the match. Katie was lost in her thoughts, Uranda was nervous, Becci was moodily staring at her torn sleeves, Nazia was trying to cram more writing into her 4 foot long essay and Rebekah was fuming because she lost one of her photos of Sirius and James. They were too busy thinking about themselves to put any effort in a victory. As they pulled out their canary yellow robes, Amos said,

"Come on you lot! Cheer up! Shall we sing the song?"

"NO!" everyone except Kirk shouted back. The 'song' was something Amos made up. The lyrics were all about them winning and how great their Quidditch captain is. On the whole, it was embarrassing.  
---  
They walked out onto the pitch and were met by an unenthusiastic applause from three quarters of the audience.

"...And here are the Hufflepuff team: Diggory, Macmillan, Scarlett, Tam, Sheepe, Pettigrew and Higgley. Widely known for not, er, winning... But generally quite a good... team." The commentator was Kingsley Shacklebolt, a Ravenclaw sixth year. The doors of the Ravenclaw changing room open and there stood the Ravenclaw team, wearing sky blue quidditch robes, all tall and sporty.

"... and here are the Ravenclaw team: Davies, Cooper, Nott, Podmore, Vance, Longbottom and Whitby. Best known for their miraculous skill and team work and many triumphs over the Hufflepuff!" said Shacklebolt in a more enthusiastic voice. The Hufflepuff team all glared at him as one.

Madams Hamp and Hollins marched out onto the pitch with the heavy case containing the balls. The Hufflepuff team sighed. Madam Hollins was always unfair towards them- she favoured the Ravenclaws above every other house team as she taught them. After the usual talk about the rules, Madam Hamp counted to three and all kicked off at once- apart from Kirk who was busy staring at his fingernails.

"And they're off! Vance, of the Ravenclaw team, is in possession of the Quaffle and is racing towards the Hufflepuff goalposts where Pettigrew is waiting. She passes quickly to Cooper, Cooper drops it, quaffle caught by Sheepe. Sheepe turns the other way, no, she throws it to Kirk who slams into Macmillan, Macmillan hits him with her bat by mistake, blood everywhere, quaffle goes to Diggory. Diggory starts flying towards the Ravenclaw goalposts, Nott at his heels... oh damn!"Shacklebolt groaned loudly. "Sorry, er, bludger from nowhere aimed by Longbottom to Diggory, well I think it was aimed at him, except it catches Nott in the stomach. Nott somersaults five times and Diggory's way is clear again. Diggory passes to, er is that Higgley or Sheepe?" The crowd waited as Shacklebolt squinted short sightedly. "Yeah ok, it's Sheepe. Sheepe catches the quaffle, flies towards the goalposts, and there's no one stopping her!.. Quick.. where the hell are you Davies?!" The Hufflepuff supporters cheered as Rebekah scored. Davies flew back towards the goalposts angrily yelling that he was busy tending Nott who seemed to look dazed.

"Ok well, 10-0 to Hufflepuff, and the game is resumed. Vance in possession of the quaffle, dodges the bludger sent by Scarlett and passes to Cooper. Cooper flying towards the Hufflepuff goalposts, come on, you're nearly there, only a bit further, ignore Tam, she won't stop you... what are you doing you idiot?!?!?!?!" Cooper screamed as she dropped the quaffle as Kirk flew out from behind Uranda. She was mortally frightened of blood and Kirk's face was covered with it. He was also grinning, but his grin was so abnormal that she was confused for a moment. Amos caught the quaffle and passed it to Rebekah. She scored another goal.  
---  
Uranda was busy searching for the Snitch when all of this happened. She was near the Gryffindor stands with Katie beside her, who was swinging her bat absent mindedly. She turned around on her broom and saw James, Remus, Sirius and Peter all holding a huge Hufflepuff banner with the faces of her, Katie, Becci, Nazia and Rebekah.

"Go on Tam! Catch the damn Snitch before Whitby! You can do it!" shouted James.

"Scarlett, whack harder at the bludger will you? You're so weak!" shouted Sirius. Katie went bright red.

"Go on Becci!" shouted Remus loudly, not really watching anyone but her.

"COME ON HUFFLEPUFF!" yelled all of them. They all groaned when Nott, who had recovered, managed to dodge Nazia and score.

"Why do we want Hufflepuff to win?" asked Peter.

"Because Becci is on the team," replied Remus. Sirius and James smirked.

"Actually, apart from Becci being on the team, we don't Ravenclaw to win. The house-cup match will be between us and whoever wins this match. The Ravenclaws are better than the Hufflepuffs so..." James shrugged.

"Basically, we want the Cup without much effort. Not that we'd lose anyway." explained Sirius seeing Peter's slow reaction.

Uranda and Katie heard all of this and looked at each indignantly. Uranda flew off, not wanting to hear any more. Katie however stayed until she saw a passing bludger. She used all her might to whack it towards the four of them; they only managed to dodge in time. Katie laughed, "I suppose I'm not so weak after all!" and flew off whacking the other bludger at Podmore. By this time, Rebekah had scored six more goals, but the Ravenclaws were catching up, at 80-60. As Becci was diving towards a bludger, Kirk flew in front, blocking her way.

"What the hell are you..." She caught sight of his binded legs. "What happened?"

"Slytherins-locomotor-Regalus Black" he panted. And fell off his broom. Both Becci and Nazia, who was watching, made a lunge towards him, pulling him onto their brooms. Madam Hamp and Madam Hollins were busy arguing over the score to call for time out.  
---  
Rebekah was flying with the quaffle. Amos kept yelling at her "Tactics, tactics!" but she ignored him as usual. He flew in front of her, and said "Rebekah, you have to pass to your right, remember? Well you look as if you're passing to the right where I am, but you're meant to pass to the..."

He seemed to have failed to notice that three of his team mates were currently flying on two brooms between them. Becci and Nazia were splattered with Kirk's blood as he kept snorting uncontrollably. Amos also failed to notice the temper Rebekah was in- she had been hit by a bludger five times and now supported a blue and bleeding forehead. She was exasperated and ready to scream at anyone and everyone.

"SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" she yelled and shoved him out of the way. Davies flew out to meet her, but when he saw her violence, he thought it was best to leave her to score.

"And yet again, Davies leaves the damn goalposts free for Sheepe to damn score and... DAMN HIM! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Shacklebolt was yelling at the top of his lungs, cursing Davies with all his might. Professor McGonagall grabbed the magical megaphone away from him and started threatening detentions and lines.

At this point, Uranda saw Whitby diving towards the ground and hesitated until at the corner of her eye she saw James' red face. As she remembered what James and Sirius said, she pulled into a dive at once... she should beat him, her broom was faster... but Whitby was much nearer... she was edging towards his head now... just a bit more, and suddenly two broomsticks and three people collided into Whitby...

Uranda sighed as she closed her hand round the golden snitch, pulling out of her dive. The Hufflepuff stand nearly collapsed as they all jumped around, yelling themselves hoarse with happiness. Madam Hamp was happily announcing the final score, 240-60. Everyone ignored Madam Hollins as she was trying to say Hufflepuff only had 50 points.  
---

A few hours later, James, Sirius and Peter were in the Gryffindor common room. Remus had gone to congratulate Becci.

"James- was that your snitch?" asked Peter.

"What do you think?" he replied testily.

"But I thought... so... you let go of your snitch so that Uranda could catch it?"

"How thick are you, Wormtail?" asked James. He asked that about 60 times a day.

"But why?!" James and Sirius looked at each other, frustrated.

---

"Are you lot ready?" Rebekah said irritably, standing at the door of the Hufflepuff girls' dorms.

"One second," Nazia mumbled, fiddling with the fastening on her cloak.

Katie sighed, sounding worried. "I'm sure we're going to get in trouble for this."

"We won't get in trouble, because we won't get caught," Becci said, putting her arm around Katie's shoulders and grinning widely.

"What makes you so sure of that?" Katie said, still looking very apprehensive.

"Positive! Be positive!"

"Oh, come on, let's just go," Uranda said, joining Rebekah at the door. A few moments later, the others came as well, and they all silently left the dormitory, then headed down to the common room and outside. After a tense minute as they made their way toward the doors, they finally got out onto the grounds.

"Can I just say, the fact that we won for once doesn't mean we have to risk being expelled!" Katie hissed.

"Katie, calm down," Nazia said. "We're just celebrating a little..."

Becci started pulling her shoes off, then picked them up and ran toward the lake. The others followed suit, and soon enough, they were paddling in the shallow bank of the lake. Within minutes, they were all suitably splashed, and having to keep reminding each other to keep their voices down. Without warning, however, Rebekah suddenly stopped dead.

"What's wrong?" Uranda asked.

"There's... someone... over there!" Rebekah said in a strangled voice. She pointed, and they saw the figure of someone at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Whoever it was apparently hadn't noticed them.

"Who is it?" Katie said, lowering her voice dramatically. "It's not a teacher, is it?"

"No... Not tall enough to be any of the adults here," Nazia whispered.

"Well then, who?" Uranda said. "It's not... It couldn't be someone who's, y'know, not supposed to be here..."

Becci gasped. "No it isn't!" And she ran off towards the figure.

"Oh, great," Uranda said, rolling her eyes.

"Come on," Katie said, following Becci, and gesturing for the others to do so as well.

They caught up to Becci, and, as soon as their footfalls were heard, he turned around, his eyes wide.

"Becci!"

"Remus!" Becci said, bouncing up to him and taking both his hands.

"What - are you all doing out here?" asked Remus, glancing cautiously over Becci's shoulder at her friends. Becci blushed a little.

"Oh, we just came out to celebrate our victory," Becci said breathlessly. "What are you doing out here all on your own?"

Remus gaped a little. "I was just..." His answer was cut off, however, as Nazia squeaked behind them. Her expression was that of terror.

"What's wrong?" Rebekah said.

"There's... Look!" Nazia said, pointing behind Remus. A few feet back of him was an enormous, shaggy black dog.

"I'll - I'll go get a teacher," said Uranda, but before she could go anywhere, Remus caught her arm.

"No, don't, don't do that," he said. "This is... my dog."

"Your dog?" Becci repeated.

"Yes," Remus said, nodding. "His name is... Bob."

Katie blinked. "What's he doing here?"

"And," Rebekah added, "why is he called 'Bob'?"

Remus glanced back at the dog, then looked at the girls again. "He - he's named after my uncle. Uncle Bob. Good old Uncle Bob..."

"Okay, but you still haven't told us how he got to Hogwarts," Uranda said suspiciously.

"Oh, well," Remus said, clearly trying hard to look casual, "my mother was in Hogsmeade, visiting and all, and she brought... Bob... and, well, I suppose he must have got my scent and followed it up to here. See, I was up late because I was... doing homework, and I looked out the window, and I saw him here, so I decided to come down and get him before he, you know, caused any trouble."

He stopped and smiled, then shrank back slightly at the five sceptical pairs of eyes staring at him. Katie shrugged, however. Now that they knew it wasn't dangerous, she seemed to be warming towards the dog.

"Can we stroke him?" she asked. The dog bounded happily towards the group of girls, but Remus caught him before he could reach them.

"No - I'm afraid that you shouldn't stroke him just now, because he has fleas, and I need to take him inside until my mum comes to pick him up, so, I'll see you all tomorrow." He distractedly kissed the corner of Becci's mouth, then hurried inside, pushing the dog ahead of him.

"That was slightly strange," Nazia remarked, as they walked back to the lake to retrieve their shoes. She stopped. "Hey - what's that?" She walked over to the edge of the Forest and picked something up, then turned around, holding a piece of parchment.

"Wow," Uranda said with heavy sarcasm. "A blank scrap of homework."

"Not blank," Nazia said, and she showed them the side of the parchment that she could see. On it was inscribed,

Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs...


	3. A loss

The next few days passed uneventfully. The fifth years were back to all their lessons and, as they had guessed, the teachers were setting them homework once again. However, compared to the amount they had received leading up to their OWLs, it was all a breeze. Without the weight of exams on their backs (which, apart from Sirius and James, had been very large) everyone felt more relaxed. Instead of spending their break and lunch times cooped up in the library or in a quiet corner of their common rooms revising, everyone lounged around outside in the grounds, lapping up the summer sun. And in the evenings, instead of working till their eyes were sore, they would sit talking and laughing, usually until the early hours of the morning.

There was, however, a very serious thing on Rebekah, Becci, Nazia, Katie and Uranda's minds: the Quidditch match against Gryffindor. All the matches had been squashed into the latter half of the summer term, as the Quidditch pitch had been rebuilt and furbished in the autumn and winter. There was therefore only a week between the matches against Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

---  
The sun had barely risen when Katie woke up on Saturday morning. Her nerves had got the better of her, and she had had a restless night's sleep. A few minutes later, she had woken the other girls, and the five of them were staring out of the window at the Quidditch pitch. The weather was warm and muggy, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

'We're gonna lose, face it.' mumbled Becci sullenly.

The morning dragged on. None of them could eat their breakfast, except for Rebekah and Katie, who had the largest appetites the others had ever seen. (Apparently two helpings of pancakes and maple syrup help to calm nerves). Every now and again, one of the girls would glance at the Gryffindor table, where the Quidditch team was relaxed and talking animatedly.

'We haven't got a chance...' said Becci.

At twenty to eleven, the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor teams made their way out towards the pitch, closely followed by the rest of the school.

'Nervous, Tam?' called James to Uranda. 'Reckon you can do better than last year, when I caught the snitch in 4 minutes and 36 seconds?'

Uranda pulled a face at him, her cheeks slightly pink.

'What was the score, Prongs?' Sirius asked loudly enough for everyone to hear him. '200-10, wasn't it? 100 galleons says that's more goals than they'll get today!'

'Oh, shut your mouth Black!' said Katie grinning. 'Or I'll shut it with my bat!'

'Are you threatening me, Scarlett?' laughed Sirius, his dark eyes twinkling.

'Maybe...' she replied. 'Depends if your head has shrunk by the time Madam Hamp blows the whistle.'

Sirius let out another bark of laughter.

The two teams continued on to the pitch. Once there, they separated into their changing rooms, the Gryffindors putting on their crimson robes, and the Hufflepuff changing into their canary-yellow ones. The talk which Amos gave was, as usual, not very inspiring, despite the fact that he and Kirk sang the team song at the top of their voices. Then, after five nail-biting minutes in silence, they mounted their Silver Silhouettes, kicked off and zoomed into the air.

'Let's hear it for Hufflepuff!' cried Kingsley Shacklebolt's voice above the deafening noise of the crowd. 'Amos Diggory! Rebekah Sheepe! Kirk Higgley! Rebecca Macmillian! Nazia Pettigrew! Katie Scarlett and Uranda Tam!'

The team circled the pitch. Behind the goalpost was a bright sea of yellow; the Hufflepuffs were cheering loudly.

'And here comes Gryffindor!' Kingsley shouted. 'Sean Morris! Tarik Ali! Fabian Prewett! Benjy Fenwick! Martha Ostler! Sirius Black! And... James Potter! COME ON GRYFFINDOR!'

The stands exploded into applause as they flew around the pitch gracefully on their Windslasher 3's. The screaming got particularly loud whenever James or Sirius passed one of the stands. They were lapping up the attention, giving out smiles, and sometimes even a wave to the prettier girls.

'Diggory, Morris, shake hands.' said Madam Hollins sharply. 'and don't try anything funny, Diggory! I saw you- SHUT UP, MISS SCARLETT! And you, Miss Tam!'

'Alex...' said Madam Hamp out of the corner of her mouth. She tended to like everyone, especially the Hufflepuffs. 'Good luck!' she said to the teams. 'Three...two...one...'

She blew the whistle, and the crowd erupted as the fourteen brooms rose into the air. Uranda and James darted off, and Nazia and Sean Morris flew towards their goalposts. The snitch, the quaffle and the two bludgers were released. The game had begun.

'Gryffindor in possession.' commentated Kingsley. 'Tarik Ali. He's heading straight for the goal posts...Superb tackle by Rebekah Sheepe. Sheepe's got it...Ali and Prewett are gaining on her. She passes to Diggory. Great pass. He...drops it. Fabian Prewett to Ali. Ali passes to Fenwick and... BENJY FENWICK SCORES! 10-0 to GRYFFINDOR!'

The pitch was instantly filled with a mixture of cheers and jeers from the crowd.

Nazia threw a long pass to Rebekah, who caught it easily. She turned and began to zoom up the pitch, ignoring the frustrated calls from Amos and Kirk. Morris came speeding up to her, but she swerved to the left a moment before he reached her...

'HUFFLEPUFF SCORE! Excellent play! The score is 10-10!' cried Kingsley Shacklebolt over the surprised crowd. 'Right then...Gryffindor in possession. Fenwick to Prewett. A backward pass to Ali. Back to Prewett. Higgley tackles and...fails. Another bludger attack by Rebecca Macmillian. Diggory in possession. Passes to Higgley. Higgley to- intercepted by Ali. Fenwick. Ali... GRYFFINDOR SCORES! 20-10 to Gryffindor!'

No sooner had Nazia passed rather foolishly to Diggory, Gryffindor had the quaffle again and –

'30-10 TO GRYFFINDOR!' shouted Shacklebolt. 'Come on Hufflepuff! Pull your robes up!'

Rebekah was in possession. She meandered her way between Fenwick and Prewett. Ali tackled, but she held him off, then Fenwick was stopped by quite a vicious attack from Katie.

'Oi! Scarlett!' shouted Sirius, grinning cheekily at her. 'That was rude! I think you should apologise!'

'Shut up!' she called back, sending a bludger soaring right at him.

Sirius let out a short bark of laughter as his shoulder missed it by only a couple of inches, and a few seconds later sent one pelting back at her. Katie wasn't so lucky, and it hit her elbow hard. She shouted in pain, but immediately sped after the bludger and sent it spiralling right back at Sirius.

'Diggory in possession and- WOW! Look at Scarlett and Black!' cried Kingsley. 'They're having a right go at each other with that bludger. Looks like a game of tennis! Tennis, by the way, is a muggle sport with two rackets and a ball...'

'Come on, Katie!' Sirius laughed. 'Shut my mouth for me! Go on!'

'It shouldn't be too hard,' she shouted, smacking the bludger back at him. 'Considering the size of it!'

Meanwhile, Higgley had the quaffle, and there was no one to stop him; Rebekah and the Gryffindor beater, Martha Ostler, had their eyes fixed on Sirius, and had completely forgotten about the match. Becci, however, was not interested in him, and instead was continuously attacking Tarik Ali and Benjy Fenwick with the other bludger. Amos was being very annoying to Prewett and preventing him from tackling Higgley.

Higgley moved up the pitch, trying, and succeeding, to remain unnoticed. It therefore took the entire stadium by surprise when it heard:

'WHAT THE- HIGGLEY SCORES! FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER HIGGLEY SCORES! 30-20 to Gryffindor!'

And then, barely seconds after this, Kingsley's voice rang out:

'OH MY GOD! WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT? HIGGLEY SCORES AGAIN! HUFFLEPUFF AND GRYFFINDOR ARE DRAWING... and I thought I'd never live to see the day... Hang on a minute- I think James and Tam have seen the snitch...' Kingsley squinted at the two of them in the distance, and after a few seconds pause said 'Yep, I think they have...Look at them go!'

On hearing this, Sirius let his concentration on the fast rally with Katie slip. He turned to watch James speeding through the air after the tiny golden ball when-

SMACK!

The bludger made contact with Sirius' jaw and hit it hard. He swayed uncertainly, blinked at Katie, then toppled off his broom.

'Oh my gosh!' cried Katie, staring as the boy began to fall through the air. 'Sirius! SIRIUS!'

At the same time as Katie was diving after Sirius' half-unconscious body, James and Uranda were descending at a startling pace after the snitch. James was closer to it; his broom was faster, and it was acknowledged by absolutely everyone that he was the better flyer out of the two. But this didn't make Uranda give up hope. She had to get it...She had to...

James turned to look at her. His messy black hair was rippling like a wave in the wind, and his eyes, behind his black-rimmed glasses, were bright and alert. He smiled at her, exposing some of his gleaming teeth...

Uranda wobbled, and slowed down for a few moments, but was soon racing after James once more. Somehow she was going faster this time, or maybe he was going slower. Whichever it was, she was soon level with him, the snitch a mere few feet in front.

James leaned into her, giving her a gentle push. She felt his warm arm press against hers, and a few strands of his hair flicked in her face. She began to feel faint again. What was he doing? Why was he getting so near to her? Maybe this wasn't about Quidditch anymore... Now he was moving even closer to her. His hair was still whipping in her face. Quite a lot of it. It was in her eyes... Panic swept over her. She couldn't see anything. All she could see was his jet-black hair.

The crowd erupted all of a sudden. James swerved away from Uranda, and she saw the snitch clasped in his gloved hand.

'GRYFFINDOR WIN! GRYFFINDOR WIN!' cried Kingsley. 'Excellent tactic! Tam couldn't see a thing! Pure class, Potter! Lucky his hair's so long...Gosh, people will be talking about this for years! Oh, here comes Madam Pomfrey. Look at Black! Lucky Scarlett caught him though... He'd have more than a broken jaw if he'd fallen 50 feet from a broom. Congratulations, Gryffindor! The final score, 180-30. Gryffindor, yet again, win the Quidditch cup!'

The four other girls landed next to Katie while the Gryffindor team embraced each other ecstatically. The rest of the supporters were spilling onto the pitch, and all that the Hufflepuffs could see was a mass of crimson and scarlet in front of them. Hands rained down on the Gryffindor team's backs, and there was hardly a dry eye among them. The Hufflepuffs could see James hugging Sirius tightly who, despite looking very pale and disorientated, was smiling at his friend, his damp eyes sparkling in the sunshine. Then the two of them, along with the rest of the team, were lifted up. James was given the cup, and he thrust it proudly above his head, beaming ecstatically. He then threw an arm around Sirius, and pulled him into another brotherly hug. Then, laughing together, they each took a handle and held the cup triumphantly above their heads.

By this time, there was not a dry eye among the five Hufflepuff girls either.


	4. Marauders' Map

The Hufflepuff team dragged their legs back into their common room after the usual after-match tea. Only Amos was remotely angry at their defeat and was ready for an outburst at the team. Seeing this, the girls quickly rushed into their dormitory, leaving Kirk as his victim. Not that he would mind.

As they all packed their broomsticks away, Uranda turned the others,

"Look, I'm sorry. It's just James was so near me, and… and his hair… and he kept banging into me… and I thought… I thought… well… I didn't know what to think!"

The others laughed. "It isn't your fault we lost. I mean we knew we would lose anyhow. The Gryffindors are all better than us. So stop saying sorry," said Rebekah sensibly.

"OK… well I'm still sorry!" The others all threw their pillows at her.

"I hope Sirius is OK though," said Katie biting her lip. "That was a pretty hard whack…"

"He's fine! I saw him eating about five pies at the tea, with no trouble at all! He also ate two cauldron cakes and drank five glasses of Pumpkin juice mixed with lemons." The others stared at Rebekah.

"What did James eat then?" asked Becci with a grin.

"Oh, about the same. I think he ate treacle tart though, Sirius hates treacle."

"You should really stop watching… or rather, stalking them!" said Nazia, over Katie and Becci's loud laughter. She turned to look at Uranda, who was silent. "Are you OK? Look, it really isn't your fault we lost the match, it's not like we…"

"No no, I wasn't thinking about that… it's just… get that piece of parchment out that we found the other night."

Nazia rummaged around in her drawer and finally found it.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs…" murmured Uranda. "Prongs… Prongs! Hey, this belongs to James!"

The others looked at her, politely confused. Well Becci who wasn't polite said bluntly,

"What are you on about?" Uranda waved the parchment around impatiently.

"Look, it says 'Prongs' on it. At the match, I swear I heard Sirius call James 'Prongs'. Didn't you?"

"Oh yeah…" said Rebekah slowly. "I should've known that! I always hear them call each other nicknames!"

"You mean you hear ever single conversation they've ever had when you stalk them!" said Becci smirking.

"I do not stalk them!"

"Well I suppose this map also belongs to Remus, Sirius and Peter then," said Katie. "We should give it back to them… but after I've had a shower!" And she dashed off.

"Since when did she have to have showers before giving something back?" asked Uranda, surprised.

The girls looked around the castle wondering where the four of them could be. Rebekah suddenly exclaimed,

"Hey it's nearly 2 o' clock. They'll be out by the lake. They always are at this time on Saturdays."

Sure enough, they found them lying on grassy bank, shaded by the big willow tree. They all appeared to be asleep.

"Remus?" said Becci as they approached them. Remus sat up and smiled.

"Hi you lot. What are you doing?" Peter sat up as well. Sirius and James didn't move.

"We've come to give something back." Said Nazia. "Here…" she handed him the map.

Remus and Peter looked at it. Colour suddenly drained from their faces as they looked at each other and up at the girls.

"What? It belongs to you four right?" said Katie, eyes wandering over at Sirius' body.

"Wh-where did you find this?" squeaked Peter.

"The other night, when we met Remus and his, er, dog." Sirius and James sat up suddenly. They glanced over at the map and glared at the girls angrily.

"So you've had the map for nearly a week and only decided to give the map back to us today?" asked Sirius a little coldly. The girls looked at each other, surprised by the boys' reactions.

"Well, sorry, but we only just realised it belonged to you lot today!" said Uranda.

"So you've been eavesdropping on our conversations as well!" shouted James, red in the face.

"What's the big deal anyway? Remus?" Becci stared at him. He shifted a little.

"Well, it's just, this map means a lot to us." He said it quietly, avoiding her eyes. Becci looked baffled.

"It's not like we kept it on purpose! We've given it back now anyhow, so stop looking so angry!" said Nazia, trying to keep peace.

"It's not only you keeping the map, it's because you've heard what we've been saying!" said Peter, angrily glaring at his twin.

"We DID NOT eavesdrop. Who would really desperately want to hear your great plans about how to destroy the school anyway? But thank you for thinking us as so low," said Uranda. She turned away and started to walk back to the castle. Katie followed. Rebekah was secretly debating on whether to take photos of James and Sirius' angry faces- she's never had one before. James and Sirius stood up.

"Tam and Scarlett, stand still!" shouted James. Uranda and Katie ignored him and carried on walking. Sirius whipped his wand out, pointed it at the two of them and said,

"Metastillus!" Uranda and Katie instantly felt their feet glued to the ground. Sirius and James slapped their high fives and stood in front of them.

"You can't walk away now, can you!" sneered James.

"Shut up you utterly good-for-nothing rat!" yelled Uranda into his face.

"I'm not a rat!" yelled James, equally as loud.

"Oh yeah, you're too low to even be one!" retorted Uranda. Katie laughed.

"You think that's funny do you, Scarlett? I still haven't forgiven you for damaging my jaw!"

"Your jaw is perfectly fine! You're only scared it'd ruin your looks so you can't flirt anymore!" said Katie viciously.

"So you think I always flirt now, do you?" said Sirius. He looked at her and gently ran his forefinger down her cheek. Katie instantaneously blushed. Sirius looked surprised and mildly amused.

"Leave her alone!" said Nazia, running up towards them. Rebekah followed. Becci looked down at Remus.

"Remus, can't you stop them?" she pleaded. He wouldn't say anything or look at her. Becci walked slowly away.

"Take the curse off them!" said Rebekah.

"Like you can make us!" sneered James. He pointed his wands at the other three and at once they were glued to the ground too. "Come on Padfoot, let's go." Sirius was staring at Katie. Katie was looking at anywhere but at him.

"James Potter, you're even more arrogant than I thought you were! Why do you think it's so fun seeing others suffer?" asked Uranda sadly. James looked shocked.

"I, well, you're not suffering!"

"No, I'm not am I? I'm only having the time of my life here, being glued to the ground and talking to the person who, to block me from seeing the snitch, uses his hair!"

Uranda voice was getting louder and louder. Everyone looked at her. Suddenly, Kirk came running up to them.

"Hey Professor Mc… why are you all standing there staring at each other?" he asked interested.

"Shut up Higgley, why are you here?" asked Peter walking up to them. Remus was behind, staring at the ground moodily. Becci looked away from him.

"Oh, er, what was I trying to say?" He looked at them for enlightenment.

"Well we don't know!" said Nazia impatiently.

"Oh yeah, Professor McGonagall wants to see, wants to see, er…" he paused, thinking hard. "Yeah, she wants to see you five!" He meant the Hufflepuff girls. "Well, have fun staring at each other, I need to go and see Fenmann… he has a Giant flare-rimmed-poisonous araman… they're supposed to be really dangerous…" he trailed off.

"Well, can you get rid of this curse now?" asked Katie quietly. Sirius muttered a few words and they became free. The five started to walk towards the castle again. James grabbed Uranda's arm.

"I'm sorry about the match…" he said sincerely "…but I suppose we're all just better than you!" he added triumphantly.

"Leave me alone." She pulled her arm away.

"Hey Scarlett, do want another chance to break… how about my arm? I wouldn't mind… as long as I can see you go red!" James and Sirius began to laugh loudly. The girls turned around and glared at them and began screaming at once, drowning each other out.

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE THE BEST-"

"ALWAYS THINKING YOU'RE SO AMUSING-"

"DO YOU REALISE WHAT BIG-HEADED-"

"FILTHY TRICKS, BAD MANNERED, NOT TO MENTION CONCEITED-"

"THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR JAW-"

"I'M NOT SURPRISED YOU ONLY HAVE TWO SIDE-KICKS!"

"DISGUSTING, EMOTIONLESS-"

"I'M SURPRISED I DIDN'T SEE ANY HEADLICE-"

"WHY GIRLS EVEN LIKE YOU IS A HUGE MYSTERY-"

James and Sirius looked shocked to be shouted at. For once they seemed lost for words. James cleared his throat.

"Well we…" James fell silent as Professor Berry, head of Hufflepuff and who taught Herbology, came strolling down the passage.

"Who was shouting in this corridor? Sheepe? Macmillan? You two Pettigrews? Oh it's you Potter and Black too. Why are you all standing here? Have you been to lesson one?" he demanded suspiciously.

"Er, no Professor, it's Saturday," said Katie, one of his favourite students.

"Oh… well no messing around in the corridors. Mr Filtch has enough to do without cleaning up your bits of exploded dungbombs too." The girls threw furious looks at the boys as Professor Berry walked away.


	5. A Midnight Stroll

Later on that evening, the Hufflepuff girls felt quite miserable. Their heated argument with the Gryffindor boys had left them feeling depressed, and all of them knew they wouldn't be able to sleep. It was nearing midnight, and the five of them were sitting around the open window of their common room. It was a warm night, and the breeze that was floating in was quite relaxing.

'I feel really guilty…' Katie was saying. 'Maybe we should have just left it where it was. We are quite nosy, aren't we?'

'That was so out of order of them for shouting at us like that though.' Rebekah said.

'And performing a curse on us…' Uranda added.

'And making me blush…' Katie said. The others grinned in the darkness, although she didn't see.

'But that map was really cool.' Nazia said. 'Think of all the things you could do with it…'

'That's what I'm worried about,' Uranda said sensibly. 'What do those four get up to with it? They could be causing all kinds of trouble, and if they had that map, they could make sure no one ever found out!'

'Hey, I'm bored.' Said Becci suddenly. ' Let's go down to the lake again for a…er…un-celebratory swim!'

'Do we have to? Rebekah moaned. 'I'm tired. It's like…12 o'clock.'

'…And?'

Rebekah sighed. 'Fine. But not for too long, OK?'

They all got up and headed towards the exit. There was no one else in the common room now- they had all gone to bed earlier, feeling lousy after their defeat. The five of them sped out of the deserted common room and through the silent school, a few minutes later arriving in the cavernous entrance hall. Katie performed a quick silencing spell on the front door (it was often prone to creak), then they ran quickly out and down the stone steps.

It was a damp and muggy night, and a lot of clouds filled the sky above them. The breeze would probably blow them over soon though, then the moonlit grounds would look quite spectacular, the high towers of the castle looming overhead.

Katie, Becci, Uranda, Rebekah and Nazia threw off their shoes and waded out into the glistening lake. They were about to submerge themselves fully in the dark water when they noticed the glimmer of a wand in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. The girls froze.

'Let's hope it's Bob.' Katie mumbled uncertainly.

'Come on.' Nazia whispered to the others. 'Let's go see who it is.'

'Oh God…' Rebekah muttered irritably.

They got out of the lake silently, pulled on their shoes and crept forward. As they got closer, they saw that whoever was holding the wand was standing near the Whomping Willow (a large tree which had been planted the year they had arrived at Hogwarts, to commemorate the death of the late headmaster, Professor Dibbet).

They stopped beside the cabin of the gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid , and peered forward into the darkness.

'Not again!' Becci whispered angrily. 'It's Remus!'

Sure enough, there was Remus, but also Peter, James and Sirius, all standing in front of the Whomping Willow, which, as usual, was moving it's boughs viciously and haphazardly. Remus looked very pale, as if he was about to throw up. Peter was holding the wand, and the tall shapes of Sirius and James looked very casual. The girls watched as Peter handed Sirius the wand, who took it calmly, then-

Peter disappeared.

The girls all gasped in horror, but the three other boys didn't look phased at all. The continued to watch the tree intently, until it suddenly froze, looking like it was made of marble in the dim light. They made their way quickly between it's still branches, then vanished from sight as well.

The five girls couldn't speak for shock, but the silence was broken when Rebekah said:

'I suppose you all want to follow them still?'

'Where- what- where have they gone?' Becci stammered.

'Inside the tree.' Nazia replied instantly.

They all decided to ignore Nazia; she often said things with little or no evidence to back them up, and it was usually best not to listen to her.

'So, are we going to look?' Katie asked.

'Yeah,' said Uranda. 'Just go really quietly- we don't want them having a huge, unnecessary go at us again…'

They crept forward slowly and silently, keeping behind some of the trees on the edge of the forest. By the time they reached the Whomping Willow, the boughs

were once again hitting the ground ferociously. The Gryffindor boys were nowhere to be seen.

'Where'd they go?' Katie asked, staring blankly around.

'Under the tree.' Nazia replied calmly.

'Nazia?' Uranda asked.

'Yeah?'

'Shut up.'

'But how did they get the branches to stop moving?' Becci asked no one in particular.

'There's a knot on the roots, and you have to press it.' said Nazia.

'And how do you know that, Nazia?' Katie asked sharply, losing her patience.

'Peter told me.'

'Peter told you.' Katie repeated.

'Yeah,' she replied confidently. 'He said there's a really narrow passage under it, and you have to press a knot on the trunk to stop the branches thrashing about.'

'Hmmm…' said Becci thoughtfully. 'I wonder what four teenage boys could want to do together in a really narrow passage… beats me…'

Katie and Rebekah burst into giggles.

'Right, Nazia,' said Uranda, ignoring Becci, Katie and Rebekah, 'Are you sure about this?'

'Yep!' she replied cheerfully.

'Ok then… so who's going to go and press it?' asked Uranda, looking around.

'I think it should be the oldest first,' said Katie. 'So that's Becci.'

'How about cleverest first?' suggested Becci. 'And, as Katie keeps reminding us, she is. So Katie first.'

'Well, what about tallest first?' asked Uranda. 'So Rebekah should go first.'

'I think most sarcastic.' Rebekah said. 'So Uranda's first.'

'How about Nazia?' Katie suggested. The others thought for a moment.

'Yeah, OK.'

'Good idea.'

'Go on, Nazia!'

'But that's not fair-' Nazia began.

'Shut up.' Said Katie bluntly, then the four of them pushed her forward. 'Just watch out for the branches!' she added helpfully.

Nazia staggered forward, and after being hit in the shin, chin, shoulder and bottom, she arrived at the trunk. She fumbled around blindly in the darkness (the others had not thought of giving her some light) and after a few minutes found the knot. The branches stopped dead. Nazia stumbled back to the others, battered, bruised and bleeding. But she didn't complain.

'So who's going to go in first?' Uranda asked the others.

'Nazia.' The other three chorused.

It took quite a while, but eventually they found a large gap in the roots. After a few apprehensive words from Katie, Nazia was pushed inside.

She slid down an earthy slope, and landed in a very low-ceilinged tunnel. She whispered 'Lumos' and the end of her wand lit up. Peering ahead into the dark and damp tunnel, she saw it was very straight and very long…Very very long…

'Nazia!' came the hushed voice of one of her friends. 'Nazia! Are you OK?'

'Yeah,' she replied. 'It's safe.'

Nazia scuttled forward as the four other girls landed behind her. Had the situation been a little less tense, they would have looked extremely funny, all piled awkwardly on top of one another. Nazia felt that if she did laugh, however, they would probably murder her. She didn't like to see them stressed. They could get quite scary, especially Rebekah.

'Right then,' said Uranda, once they had rearranged themselves. 'What shall we do now?'

'Hmmm…' said Becci sarcastically. 'We have come to the end of a very long tunnel…what could we possibly do?'

'So we are gonna go down it then?' Katie asked nervously.

'Of course.' Becci replied. 'Nazia, lead the way!'

The five fifth years found they had to crawl along as the tunnel was so low. They dreaded to see what their clothes and so on looked like having been in all of the dirt. They soon lost track of time, their necks and knees began to ache and they were losing the will to live. But still the passage seemed to go on forever.

'Do you reckon this leads to Hogsmeade? It's probably long enough,' Katie suggested. 'Maybe they're going to rob Honeydukes or something.'

'Oh God…' Uranda said moodily. 'We've come all this way just because some boys have a sweet tooth.'

'Remus is gonna kill me if he finds out I've followed him.' Becci said.

'Maybe we should go back then…' said Katie. 'This is kind of pointless.'

'No… there's even less point in going back now.' Uranda said, trying to sound positive. 'You never know, Katie, we (excluding Becci) might get our first detention. And Becci- if he dumps you for being…inquisitive…the he's not worth you!'

'You call this being inquisitive!' Becci replied. 'I call this bang-out-of-order nosiness!' The she swore quite loudly as a stone cut into her palm.

'Rebecca!' hissed Katie. 'Don't swear!'

'Sorry…'

'Hey look!' Nazia whispered loudly. 'The tunnel's rising!'

As the others crawled forward, they saw it was rising, and a minute later it was twisting as well. And then, ahead of them, they saw a rectangular opening, through which some light was filtering.

One by one they climbed out of the hole, and found themselves in a small, cramped room which looked very messy and vandalised. There was a large amount of dust as well. Along with a lot of dirt and peculiar stains on the floor and walls. There wasn't one piece of unbroken furniture.

'I want to go back.' Said Rebekah suddenly, turning to leave.

'No, Rebekah, don't go-' Katie began.

'Don't you know where we are?' she whispered shrilly to them. 'We're in the Shrieking Shack!'

The colour drained from all of their faces.  
'I'm going!' said Katie, also turning back.

'But we've come this far-' Uranda said. Katie spun round.

'There are ghosts here, Uranda!' she said, her voice hysterical and her green eyes wide. 'This place is haunted! It's the most haunted place in-'

She stopped dead as they heard a floorboard creak above them. The both she and Rebekah turned and made for the hole.

'Ghosts couldn't do this to furniture.' Becci said calmly from the corner, 'Nor could they make a floorboard creak. It's probably just Remus, James, Sirius and Peter on the bottle. Remus told me they do that sometimes. They probably just got a bit carried away…And anyway, don't you want to save your beloved Sirius?'

'He's not my beloved Sirius!' said Katie angrily, turning to face her.

'I was talking to Rebekah,' Becci replied coolly, the shadow of a smirk on her round face. 'Come on. Let's go.'

And she walked calmly out of the room.

The others stood still for a second, not sure whether to follow her or turn back. The Becci's head appeared in the doorway;

'I'm not in Gryffindor, you know!' she hissed. 'I'm not going on my own without you!'

They all looked at each other uneasily, then slowly followed her. They entered a dark hallway, with two other doors and a flight of rickety stairs in the corner. Once they reached them, they all turned expectantly to Nazia.

'NO-WAY!' she mouthed.

After a few moments of silent arguing, they all whispered 'Nox' to their raised wands, and Uranda stepped onto the stairs first and began to climb.

They reached a small landing with three doors leading off it. A quiet murmur of voices could be heard from one of them, and a tiny chink of light was escaping from underneath the doorframe.

But who was to go first? Uranda and Nazia had already, and Katie and Rebekah looked as if they were going to faint from fear. They all turned to Becci, who gave them a look of the purest loathing. Hesitantly, she stepped towards he door, her heart pounding in her chest.

'One…' she murmured. 'Two…Three…'

She pushed open the door boldly and stepped inside, the other four girls close behind her. The room was very large, but quite bare, except for a grand four poster bed, a small sofa and a fireplace. There was also the four Gryffindor boys, just as the Hufflepuffs had expected. They didn't look drunk though… Remus was lying on the bed, looking very pale and very ill. Peter was perched on the edge of the sofa, and Sirius and James were leaning against the fireplace. It looked as if they had been laughing a moment before, but on seeing the five girls, their expressions fell, and they all went chalk white. They seemed lost for words, and simply stared at them, but then James half-shouted:

'What the hell are you doing here!' He looked livid.

'Shouldn't we be asking the same to you?' Becci asked calmly.

'No-what-how…GET OUT OF HERE!' James shouted.

'No.' said Becci shortly. 'We have just as much right to be here-'

'NO YOU DON'T!' he shouted, his voice filled with panic.

Becci ignored him, and turned to Remus. 'What are you doing here, Remus?' she asked.

'Please…all of you…go away!' he said weakly.

'What- what's wrong with him?' she asked quickly to the other boys.

'Nothing.' James replied. 'Just-'

'What's wrong with him?'

'Becci,' said Remus quietly. 'Please-'

'WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY BOYFRIEND?'

'Look,' said James. 'Do you want us to force you out of here! Cause we can!'

But Becci ignored him, and ran over to the bed where Remus was lying. Uranda followed her, staring down at the boy too.

Suddenly, Sirius stepped forward, his deep, dark eyes fixed on Katie.

'Katie, please, listen to me,' he said urgently, resting his hands on her shoulders. ''You have got to get out of here. All of you. I'm serious. Remus will be alright, I promise. But you have to go now.'

'But, Sirius-'

'Katie, you've got to understand me,' he said, his eyes boring into hers. 'You have to, I can't explain why at the moment, but you have to get out of here.'  
Katie saw in his eyes that he was telling the truth, and she knew then that she could trust him, so she nodded and said to the others, 'Come on. Let's-'

But she was cut short by a sudden scream from Becci. Sirius instantly spun around to face her.

Remus was shaking. Violently. He looked as if he was having some kind of fit or seizure. He looked positively terrifying in the moonlight shining down on him from the open window.

James dived forward, pulling Uranda and Becci away from him, and in the same movement grabbed Nazia's wrist and pulled her into the corner as well. Sirius shoved Katie and Rebekah backwards. Peter had once again disappeared.

Remus was writhing around on the bed, and…

The girls stared in horror.

His head was lengthening. His body was changing shape as well; his narrow shoulders were becoming wider and hunched, and his legs were rearing up. His T-shirt ripped. Thick brown fur began to appear on his face and hands and all over his body. But now his hands were paws with sharp claws, and protruding from his face was a long, snapping jaw. The werewolf let out a low snarl.

The werewolf was alone in a room with seven children. But a second later James and Sirius were gone. In front of Katie and Rebekah was a huge, black, shaggy dog, its sharp teeth and claws bared at what had been Remus. And in front of Uranda, Nazia and Becci was a magnificent stag.

The werewolf got up off the bed, saliva dripping from its open mouth. It turned its ugly head to look at both the dog and the stag, and the girls behind them. Then it advanced on Sirius.

The five girls understood now; the dog was Sirius, and the stag was James. They were animagi.

The werewolf lunged forward, swiping its paw at the black dog. Sirius yelped as it bit deep into his neck, but he slashed back at the werewolf with his razor-sharp claws. It let out an echoing howl, then threw itself forward onto Sirius, knocking him off his feet. And then-

It bit Rebekah.

As its jaws clamped around her shoulder, dark red blood spurted out and Rebekah screamed in agony. Sirius instantly attacked the werewolf, and James abandoned Uranda, Becci and Nazia to help. The three creatures moved so fast they appeared blurred. They hurtled out of the room and onto the landing, and moments later the werewolf was thrown down the stairs. James and Sirius looked quickly at each other, then James cantered off after it.

Sirius turned back into his human form, and stood still for a moment to catch his breath. Katie could see him from the doorway; his eyes were filled with despair. She understood. She knew what happened when someone was bitten by a werewolf…

Sirius marched back into the room and knelt down beside Rebekah. Peter had reappeared now that the werewolf was gone, but looked at a loss as to what to do. The other girls could hardly move from shock, although they had their eyes fixed on Rebekah and Sirius.

'She's fainted…' Sirius said quietly, feeling her pulse. He lifted up the sleeve of her t-shirt gently and looked at the wound. It was very deep, and her entire arm was covered in crimson blood. 'Medicus.' He whispered, and the wound instantly stopped bleeding, although it didn't look any better. Sirius' pale face seemed to have lost even more of its usual colour, and he looked on the verge of tears. He turned his face towards Katie.

'This is all my fault,' he said to her quietly. All of his anger, sarcasm and rudeness of the afternoon was now gone. 'Her life is ruined and its all my fault.'

'No, it's not-'

'I should never have let this happen. I've put people's lives at risk so many times and now…now she has to pay for it.'

He stood up once more and picked up Rebekah's limp body , then turned to the others.

'We have to take her to Dumbledore,' he said. 'He'll help her. Let's go now.'

'No, wait-' said Becci, getting to her feet. 'H-how long has Remus been a-a-'

'Werewolf?' Sirius asked. 'He got bitten when he was really young- around four or five I think.'

'A-and, how long have you known?

'The three of us found out in our first year.' he replied, avoiding her eyes.

'And, do you know why he never told me?' Becci asked, her voice very quiet.

'Well, why would he tell you?' Sirius said bluntly. 'You've hardly been going out with him for very long have you?'

'Not very long?' she snapped. 'Five months next week!'

'Look, I'm not trying to insult you or anything, but…I mean…we wouldn't tell anyone, we're his best friends. But you…you could break up with him at any time and spread it around the whole school!'

Becci looked very insulted. 'Are you saying he doesn't trust me?' she said angrily. 'I think you're just selfish. You can't bare to lose your friend, so you've persuaded him not to tell me, cause if he does, you know he'll abandon you!'

Sirius looked at her very solemnly, then replied 'I admit I'm selfish. But the rest you've said is utter crap. I think you'll find it was Remus' decision not to tell you…not that I disagreed with it.'

Becci stared at him as if he was a disgusting dog turd on a new pair of shoes, then turned to the wall and said quietly 'I don't tell believe this…'

Katie broke the silence which followed by asking 'Sirius, does Dumbledore know about Remus?'

'Of course he does.' he replied shortly.

'And does he know about you being animagi?'

Sirius shook is head guiltily. 'He'll have to now though.'

'But…you can't be animagi!' Uranda said. 'Doesn't it take like ten years?'

'Five,' he replied monotonically. 'We've been trying since our first year.'

'But…' Uranda looked at him closely. 'You're not registered, are you?' The look Sirius gave her answered her question. 'Then- then- you'll get sent to Azkaban! It's against the law!'

'I know it is,' he interrupted impatiently. 'When I started I was certain I'd avoid going to Azkaban. And I still am. It seemed, and is, a great idea to become animagi. I guess we've just never planned on anyone else knowing. Or following us. Or ignoring us when we had their best interests at heart. Or-'

'You clearly don't think it's your fault after all.' Katie said quietly. He dropped his gaze to look at her sitting on the floor below him, and didn't lift it until Uranda said:

'Look, I don't want you all getting in trouble, and I'm pretty sure Rebekah wouldn't either. In fact, I'm certain she wouldn't. How about we think of a story to tell Dumbledore tomorrow, so that he won't find out about you three, then we'll go and see him some other time.'

Sirius thought for a moment, then nodded. The others also agreed. Then Sirius put James' invisibility cloak over them all (the girls weren't in the mood for asking questions). It wasn't large enough to fully cover them, so their knees downwards were totally visible to any passers by. But luckily there weren't any.

Once they arrived at the statue of the badger, Sirius handed Rebekah over to Uranda, Becci and Nazia, then said in a hushed voice to Katie:

'Meet the four of us by the lake at 10am. We'll all have to talk, and probably argue about this. We'll have to fill you in on things. It's not fair otherwise- you have a right to know everything now, whether we like it or not. I hope Rebekah feels better. Tell her I'm sorry… I really am.'

He managed a weak smile at Katie, then threw the cloak over Peter and himself. Then they were gone, and she was left alone in the silent, moonlit corridor, her heart hammering hard in her chest.


	6. The Morning After

The next morning, the girls were all out of bed, having slept very restlessly and awoken early. The only exception from this was Rebekah. The others were grouped around her bed, where she was lying, looking very weak and pale, although conscious at last. The rest of them looked utterly miserable...

"Look, it's nearly ten," Nazia said, looking at her watch. "We should be getting down to the lake..."

"Yeah." Uranda nodded. "Rebekah, are you going to stay here?"

"I think so," Rebekah murmured.

"Okay, we'll be back soon," said Katie.

She, Uranda, Becci and Nazia stood up and trailed out of the dorm room, then down to the lake. The area was almost completely empty, due to the fact that it was Sunday morning and most students weren't up yet. James, Peter, Remus and Sirius were already there.

"All right," Uranda said as they reached the boys. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, we have to go to Dumbledore," said James. "He might be able to help Rebekah."

"There's no cure for being a werewolf," Katie pointed out.

"We can at least ask!" Sirius said, a growl to his voice.

"What's the point!" snapped Katie.

"So, you're just going to give up hope, is that it!"

Nazia put her hands up in an attempt at keeping the peace. "Everyone, stop shouting!"

"Look, what are we going to tell Dumbledore?" Uranda asked. "Like you said, we don't want him knowing you're Animagi, so -"

"Remus," Becci interrupted, speaking for the first time that morning, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

Remus gulped nervously, but nodded. "Um... You lot keep trying to think, okay?" He then followed Becci, who had already started to walk away. They walked over to another side of the lake, where there was a small group of trees. The two of them came here sometimes. It was where they had sat, just over a week ago, talking about the Defence against the Dark Arts O.W.L. They didn't sit together now, though. They stood about eight feet apart. For almost a minute, they were both silent, until -

"How could you hide something like this from me?" Becci said.

"How could I not hide it, Becci!" said Remus in an almost desperate voice.

"We've been going out for nearly five months, I'd have thought you could maybe find a spare minute to tell me -"

"To tell you what? Oh, by the way, once a month I turn into a ravenous deadly monster, just so you know!"

"Well, if anything, just to warn me!"

"It's not like I was expecting you to follow us down there..."

"But if I had known, I wouldn't have followed, and then Rebekah wouldn't be lying in our dorm room right now, completely weak because of blood loss and, something else, what is it, oh yeah, becoming a werewolf!"

"I know, and I'm sorry," said Remus, sounding truly remorseful. "But it's not like I could help it! When I Change, the wolf just... takes over..."

"Which is why you should have told me," Becci said, her voice calmer again.

Remus sighed. "Yes, I should have. And I am sorry, I really am." He walked closer to Becci. "But... you know now."

"Yes, but, Rebekah's already -"

"I know," Remus said, taking hold of Becci's upper-arms. "But we're going to work through it. I know that it's not over for her, I just know. Call it... animal intuition." A small smile played across his mouth as he slid his arms around her, then he looked serious again. "I really am sorry... I should have told you, and I should have trusted you. Please forgive me..." He leant forward slowly. Just as his lips brushed hers, however, she pushed him backward.

"No," she said quietly.

Remus blinked. "What?"

"No," Becci repeated. "I don't want... I don't think we should go out together anymore."

"But - why?"

"Why do you think?" she said, a very cold note to her voice. She turned her back on him.

"Becci..."

"To say you're not who I thought you were would be a bit of an understatement, don't you think?"

Remus bit his lip, then walked up behind Becci. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he began, "Look, I -"

"JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME, WEREWOLF!" she suddenly shouted, turning around and stumbling backward away from Remus. His arms dropped to his sides, he looked more hurt than she had ever seen him. Becci seemed a little shocked at what she had just said, but she ran past Remus, and straight back into the castle.

Rebekah was on the verge of falling asleep again, when the door to the dormitory flew open. Becci came running in, her eyes brimming over with tears. She flung herself down onto her bed.

"...Becci?" said Rebekah tentaively. "What... what happened?"

"I don't know," Becci said, her voice shaky, "they're still down there talking about it."

"Okay, but what happened with you?"

"Oh..." She sat up and turned to face Rebekah. "Me and Remus broke up..."

Rebekah gasped quietly. "Come over here."

Becci did so. As soon as she sat down on Rebekah's bed, she was pulled into a slightly weak but still comforting hug. Becci was just about to break down, when the dormitory door was pushed open again. She and Rebekah broke apart as Katie, Uranda and Nazia walked in.

"We saw you come up," Uranda said gently.

"Are you okay?" Nazia asked.

"What are we going to tell Dumbledore, then?" Becci said, clearly ignoring them both.

"Um..." Katie looked at the others. "Well - we're just going to say that we saw Remus coming out here, and that we decided to follow him because he's your - I mean, he's our, our friend and we were worried about him... so we followed him... And we're just going to pretend that the others weren't even there."

"All right," said Becci with a slightly croaky voice.

"Rebekah, can you stand up?" Nazia said.

"Er... If you lot help me."

Nazia and Uranda walked over and supported Rebekah as she sat up and slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed, then stood up, a little shakily, but mostly steady.

"Okay," Katie nodded. "Let's go."

The five girls set off through the school. It was a boiling hot day, and coming up for midday, meaning that most people were outside. They did, however, meet the Ancient Runes teacher, Professor Carnell, who greeted them with a friendly grunt, as well as the very tall astronomy teacher, Professor McGrath. Wearing his usual purple robes, he mumbled something which sounded like 'Hello, Kate' causing Katie to instantly go brick red. She had used to have a crush on him, but now deeply regretted it.

They were about to mount the another staircase when they heard a loud, sharp voice.

'Stop right there! All of you!'

The Hufflepuffs spun around to see Professor McGonagoll striding towards them. She looked livid.

'Why didn't you come to see me yesterday?' she barked, 'I gave Mr Higgley a clear message for you, and I saw him relay it. Why did you decide not to?'

'Well…' Becci began. She was more used to the teachers being angry with her. The others, however, looked petrified. 'You see… We've had other things on our minds…'

'OTHER THINGS ON YOUR MINDS!' Professor McGonagoll roared, 'That is no excuse! I would have expected you all to have seen me straight away! Please, tell me, what could these other things possibly be?'

There was a short silence before Becci said simply 'Rebekah got bitten by a werewolf.'

'Oh, don't tell me lies, Miss Macmillian!' she said, looking at Rebekah, who had blood shot eyes, was very pale and was shivering violently. 'Or at least have the decency to tell me believable ones. Miss Sheepe looks perfectly normal!'

The girls remained silent, so Professor McGonagoll decided to carry on.

'The reason I wanted to see you was because a certain student saw the five of you, after dark, swimming in the lake.'

'Oh God…' Katie said quietly, 'It was Umbridge again, wasn't it?'

'…Yes, it was,' she replied shortly, 'But that makes no difference to the fact that she saw you all-'

'Well, it does, really,' Katie pointed out politely, 'She's always spreading lies and telling tales…She hates everyone!'

'But that's only because everyone hates her,' Uranda said.

'With good reason…' added Becci quietly.

'That is enough!' said Professor Mcgonagoll, although she didn't sound as angry as she had been. Everyone knew she hated Dolores Umbridge just as much as every other teacher at Hogwarts. Not that any of them would admit it. 'I admit, Miss Umbridge has said some things which didn't in fact turn out to be quite true… But that doesn't mean that her word can not be trusted. Did you, or did you not swim in the lake after dark last Saturday?'

Katie, Becci, Uranda, Nazia and Rebekah shook their heads earnestly. She looked at them all, and then sighed.

'Very well,' she said, 'I suppose I shall have to put Miss Umbridge in yet another detention for telling tales on other students.' They all noticed the shadow of a smile across her narrow face. 'You may all go,' she added, then marched off.

The Hufflepuffs grinned slyly at one another, then-

'How rude! Lying to a teacher! I'd never have expected that from you lot!'

They turned around to see the four Gryffindor boys. Sirius, Peter and James were all smirking, while Remus was staring blankly ahead in Becci's direction. She ignored him though.

'Well, it was either us or Umbridge in detention,' said Uranda sensibly, 'And we chose Umbridge.'  
'Good choice,' James said, smiling at her.

'Anyway,' said Katie, 'We're going to see Dumbledore now so…see you later!'

'Hang on a minute!' Sirius said, 'We'll come too, if, of course, Miss Scarlett will give her consent?'

Katie shrugged. 'If you like.'

The nine of them climbed the stairs up to the corridor with the stone gargoyle at the end of it. Everyone in the school knew that Dumbledore's office was behind it, although how to get past the statue was another matter.

Suddenly, the gargoyle sprang aside, and a stout second year appeared from behind it. In her chubby arms was a pile of books, and she looked quite hot and bothered.

'Ah, Dolores…' said Sirius slowly, 'What were you doing up there? Telling even more of your made up stories to the headmaster? You could become a writer you've got such a good imagination!'

'Hey, Padfoot,' James said grinning, 'What was the last one she told about us? Something about the four of us sneaking dungbombs under the teachers' doors in an invisibility cloak? What rubbish!'

She glared up at the two fifth years as they burst out laughing.

'One day, you'll pay for all the trouble you've caused!' she said bitterly, ''And all the trouble you've got me in…You'll get what's coming to you!'

'Oh, shut up you little snitch!' Uranda said.

'I'd rather be a snitch than not be able to catch one!' Umbridge said quietly.

'Shut your mouth!' cried James, 'I'd like to see you try!'

'No point,' Sirius pointed out sensibly, 'She's too short to mount a broom.'

Remus stepped forward quickly. 'Sorry about them, Dolores,' he said, 'You know what they're like…Look, we really need to see Professor Dumbledore…Do you know the password?'

Umbridge considered him for a moment, then said 'It's Cadbury.'

'Cadory?'

'No, Cad-bu-ree,' she corrected.

'Thank you,' Remus replied politely, 'By the way, has anyone ever told you that you look just like a bloated toad? Because the similarities are endless.' He smiled kindly at her, then walked up to the statue.

'Cadbury,' he said, and the gargoyle sprang open to reveal a twisting staircase. The nine of them climbed it, leaving Umbridge red and fuming.

'Well done, Moony!' said Sirius heartily.

'Thank you,' he replied as he knocked on the oak door. The voice of Albus Dumbledore called 'Come in!', and they did.

The office of Professor Dumbledore was very familiar to Sirius, James, Peter and Remus, although it was not to the Hufflepuffs. As they peered around in awe, James said,

'Good afternoon, Professor! I haven't seen you in… fifteen days?'

'Yes, Mr Potter, I believe it has been that long,' Dumbledore replied smiling, 'I must admit, I was beginning to get quite worried. It is very unlike you to stay out of trouble for that long…Although how you have managed to gain entry to my office, I am unaware.'

'What is Cadbury, Professor?' Sirius asked.

'It is a rather boring muggle chocolate I tried while in London last month,' Dumbledore replied, 'No doubt, as I get older, my taste may become more… um…adventurous. But it is quite a favourite of mine at the moment…'  
James grinned, as did Sirius. Dumbledore let his gaze move over to the Hufflepuff girls.

'And you have brought some guests!' he said, his blue eyes twinkling, 'I don't believe any of you have been in here prior to this. May I… inquire the occasion? Miss Scarlett, would you be so kind?'

'Erm, well, Professor, Sir…' Katie stammered, 'We need to tell you something quite important…about Rebekah.'

'Miss Sheepe?' Dumbledore asked, looking at her from behind his half moon spectacles. 'What is the matter?'

'…I got bitten by Remus.' She said quietly, 'When he was a werewolf.'

Dumbledore arched his fingers, and looked at them, then asked calmly 'And how did this come about?'

'Well, we in our common room…' Uranda said, 'And we saw Remus from the window, and we were worried about him, so… we followed him into the Whomping Willow, and he was a werewolf…and he bit her.'

'I see…' Dumbledore replied slowly, then turned to Peter, Sirius and James, 'And are you three here for moral support, or had you some involvement in this?'

'No…we were in bed,' Sirius said casually, 'Remus woke us up when he got back and told us what had happened.'

'I see…' he said again. He cast his attention back to his long, white fingers for a few moments, then said 'Luckily, there is a cure for Miss Sheepe, so she will not have to be a werewolf for ever.'

'WHAT?' cried Remus, 'There's a CURE? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? Don't you know how painful it is to transform? Why didn't you tell me?'  
'Please, Mr Lupin, calm down,' said Dumbledore, 'I did not tell you because it does not apply to you, I'm afraid.'  
'Why not?' asked Remus sharply.

'It only works on people who have not yet transformed,' he replied, 'As long as Rebekah does not transform, she can be cured. So that leaves us about 28 days.'

'Bad luck, Moony,' Sirius said to a downcast Remus.

'So… what is this cure?' asked James.

'As you all know,' Dumbledore said, 'silver can kill a werewolf. However, if someone, like Miss Sheepe, who has not yet transformed uses it, it can cure them…There is a lake of molten silver to the north of this school. If one goes to that lake, and puts some of the molten silver upon the bite, it will destroy any traces of the werewolf blood in the body, resulting in the person never transforming.'

No one spoke, until Rebekah said 'So, I have to go there?'

Dumbledore nodded, 'Unless, of course, you like the idea of being a werewolf.'

'No…I don't want to be one…' Rebekah replied slowly, 'But, do I have to go on my own?'

'I suppose you may take a companion with you, if you wish,' he said.

'I'll go with you,' said Sirius suddenly, 'It's my fault you've got into this, so I'll help you get out of it.'

'I'm afraid, Mr Black, you have me confused,' Dumbledore said quietly, 'How could you possibly be the one to blame, when you were asleep at the time Miss Sheepe was bitten? Is there something you wish to tell me?'

Sirius thought for a moment, then said 'Well, it's my fault in a …in a metaphorical sense, you get me?'

Dumbledore nodded, his eyes fixed on Sirius, 'I see…'

'But if Padfoot can go, I should be able to go as well,' said James abruptly, 'We don't work well without each other, you see.'

'I have to say I agree with you,' he replied, 'I have never met two friends so utterly reliable on each other. I do believe that if one of you left the other, you would both be at a complete loss…Yes, Mr Potter, you may accompany them.'

'But that's not fair!' blurted out Katie, 'We're Rebekah's best friends, and have more right to go than them two, even if Sirius is to blame in a 'metaphorical sense' for it.' Sirius grinned at Katie, and didn't stop looking at her until quite a while afterwards.

'Very well, Miss Scarlett,' Dumbledore said, sounding amused, 'You, Miss Macmillian, Miss Tam and Miss Pettigrew may all accompany Miss Sheepe as well.' He turned expectantly to Peter and Remus. 'And you two? What are your excuses for time off school?'

Peter thought for a moment, then said 'My twin's going, and my best friends are, so…I should as well!'

'Not very convincing, I'm afraid, Mr Pettigrew,' Dumbledore said calmly, 'But I shall accept it, as I do see your point…And you, Mr Lupin? What are your reasons?'

Remus looked around uncertainly at the others. He did want to go with them all, it was just…He looked over at Becci standing by the window. Just one nod, one encouraging look from her would have made him say yes. But she seemed more interested in a bunch of first years down by the lake than in him. How could he go when his heart ached like this?

'I-I-I don't think I want to go…' he said quietly, not taking his soft, light brown eyes off Becci. The others all saw this, and instantly understood.

'Oh, please Remus!' said Katie, smiling at him, 'You have to come! We can't just all leave you here.'

'And,' added Uranda, 'You're the best at Defence Against the Dark Arts- we might really need you if we meet some random monster!'

'Come on Remus!' said Sirius. Remus thought for a moment.

'…Fine. I will,' he said reluctantly.

'Excellent!' said Dumbledore cheerfully, 'The Lake of Molten Silver is, as I said, to the north. You will have to travel through the Forbidden Forest. It will take at least two, possibly three days walking. Then you will come to some mountains. You'll have to climb them-don't look so shocked, Miss MacMillian, I'm sure you won't find it too strenuous- and then, if I remember correctly, you will come to a series of caves and tunnels. And then you will reach the lake. Once you arrive there, you will need to put some of the molten silver directly onto the werewolf bite. It will, I warn you, probably hurt. But no doubt in the long term it will be worth it…Any questions?'

'Yes,' said Uranda, 'Will there actually be any random monsters, or was I wrong in saying there might be?'

'I'm afraid I can not say what is out there, Miss Tam,' said Dumbledore, his eyes glittering, 'However I think you were probably right…but don't keep your hopes up! I shall leave all preparations and so on to you, is that alright?'

They all nodded.

'Well then, I shall beg leave of you now…' he said, 'Professor Carnell has challenged me to a broomstick race, and I do not wish to decline him…Good Day!'


	7. Into the Woods

The next few days flew by in a torrent of lessons, preparations. Uranda and Katie spent nearly all the time in between lessons in the library learning spells and reading up about various creatures so they would be prepared in any eventuality.

They had decided to leave the following Monday, they had 28days, with a minimum of three days travelling. They were not in any particular rush and had decided with the boys that there would be little point in travelling when Rebekah was still so weak.

The lessons were attended somewhat reluctantly, as the eight of them each had the werewolf attack replaying in their minds. Rebekah remained in the dormitory until Friday. She managed to drag herself out of the four-poster bed and make her way to the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom on the 2nd floor. She was particularly fond of Professor Lewis… so was the rest of the school, he was kind-hearted and never shouted. Professor Lewis greeted the five with a smile as usual as they filed into the stiflingly hot classroom. They each took their usual place on the wooden benches, with one exception of Becci who squeezed herself in between Uranda and Nazia. She was still not talking to Remus. The others had had various conversations about the situation. Katie had met up with Sirius to see whether between them they could bring the once inseparable pair together again. For neither of them wanted to have to travel in a battlefield. Their attempts failed however as both guessed what they were attempting to do and each got cross at their respective friends.

A few minutes later Professor Lewis cleared his throat and said decisively; 'I think I'll start my lesson now because the subject we are going to tackle is quite difficult and time-consuming, although I would love to know where those Gryffindor boys have got to.'

Katie looked up and for the first time noticed that Sirius, Remus, Peter and James had not yet arrived. 'I wonder where they are,' she whispered to Uranda.

'Dunno…' Uranda replied, although she could not become interested, and was intent on doodling little pandas in various sizes all over Nazia's fresh piece of parchment.

Sure enough Sirius and James swaggered into the classroom only a few minutes into the lesson. Followed by Remus who was looking flustered. Peter hopped in after a few seconds, he had obviously been running behind them in this fashion for a while.

'Sorry Professor, Peeves caught us down the charms corridor and wouldn't let us past' said Remus, as Sirius and James obviously felt that turning up late (again) required no explanation. Becci let out a snort of laughter which made it perfectly plain that she did not believe this at all. James sent a glare in her direction, but Remus just seemed to give a half smile of affection. Remembering their situation, he quickly followed the others to the bench at the back of the classroom.

'I shall start my lesson again, as this spell is very difficult, and you need to know all the details before you can start. The spell we are going to attempt is actually N.E.W.T. level, but I am sure you will cope. It is called the Chaurius curse, and I do not want anyone to attempt it until we are all protected with a special fire-resistant layer. Line up and I will coat you in the gel with my wand.'

A few minutes later the whole class looked and felt extremely silly with a thick layer of green gel smeared all over them.

'The gel is needed because the Churiaus curse will send a fireball at your opponent, this curse is most widely used with water dwelling creatures because of their low resistance towards fire and not in duelling, because the fireball is easily backfired. The wand action is a simple jabbing movement and the words required for the spell to work are; "Churio maximus." The tricky part is that you need to be thinking about fire, hard when the spell is performed. Spread out in the classroom in pairs and practise the spell.'

The five paired up, Uranda went with Becci and the other three joined up. Rebekah still felt a bit weak so she just watched as Nazia and Katie attempted the Churius curse. Nazia was managing to get a small fireball to roll on the floor up to Katie. Katie, however was becoming increasingly annoying with her small trickle of flame, determined to live up to her role as the 'cleverest,' her eyes seemed to be glowing brighter than usual.

Professor Lewis came over to the three after a while and asked why Rebekah was not practising…

'Ummm,' Rebekah replied, desperately trying to think of a good reason.

'Do you still feel a bit ill?'

Katie gasped, and Rebekah looked up at him confused. 'How did you know?' Rebekah whispered

'Professor Dumbledore told me and Professor McGonagall yesterday'

'Only you two?' He nodded.

'Good' Rebeakh definitely did not want Professor McGrath to know, he would spread it around the whole school, he was such a gossiper. Katie knew what Rebekah meant and sent a steely stare in her direction.

The other two joined them, just as the bell went, signalling the end of the lesson. Professor Lewis shouted 'Scurgify' and the green gel disappeared.

'Good luck you lot, I hope you arrive back safely next week.'

'Bye, Professor Lewis' they chanted.  
---

The four friends were sitting in their dormitory preparing for their departure the next day. It was late and no one else was up, but they had had a long day, with Professor Smith giving them a hard time with a surprise potion test.. Rebekah was sprawled out on her four poster bed looking exhausted. They were considering whether to go ahead with their plans or wait until Rebekah wasn't as fragile.

Katie, who was looking forward to their adventure, busily packed a little bag, throwing in a framed picture of her number one idol, Warren Layes, pausing to stare dreamily at his rather scruffy red shoes which she adored.

"What is the point of taking that," said Becci wearily.

Uranda looked up and said 'Yeah Katie, it's not like Warren Layes' amazing good looks will scare the monsters in the forest from not… I dunno, eating you up or something.'

"Everyone stop arguing," begged Nazia. "We've all had a long day and could do without this. Plus look at Rebekah…she needs sleep if we're actually gonna go tomorrow".

"I'm fine," insisted Rebekah.

They all ignored Nazia, who was just exaggerating the situation. If this was actually a proper argument then Uranda would have been shouting loud enough for the boys in the Gryffindor dormitory to hear and Rebekah's eyes would go big and scary. They would have carried on, but they were interrupted when they heard a crash from their common room.

Rebekah jumped out of bed and said anxiously "What's that?".

"It's probably nothing," said Uranda her black tinted purple hair shining in the light as she looked up from her book.

Katie was already half way towards the door as Nazia and Uranda ran after her followed by Becci and Rebekah. They tiptoed down the stairs, and to their surprise saw Sirius, Remus, James and Peter standing beside a broken vase.

"What are you doing in here?" Katie asked them.

"And how did you get in?" Uranda said, picking up the broken pieces of the vase.

"Padfoot heard the password when he escorted you back here last week," James replied.

"Sorry," said Sirius staring at Katie as she flicked her brownish hair out of her face. "I couldn't help hearing."

"So…" said Becci awkwardly, "Hi…did you want anything in particular."

"Oh…we just couldn't get to sleep" replied Remus, looking at Becci, "We were walking about, and Professor Sides was roaming around the corridor, and we had to hide." By this time, however, Becci had become very interested in the contents of her pockets.

"Anyway," said Sirius, "We're on for tomorrow, right?"

" Well…I'm feeling better, so yeah, I guess we are" said Rebekah

They stayed up for the rest of the night talking. Remus and Becci avoided each other most of the time, but Katie and Sirius were talking to each other secretly, planning how to get Remus and Becci back together. As light began shining through the windows of the common room, the boys made their way back. A few hours after this everyone else began waking up, but the girls were already up with their bags packed and were waiting by the lake for Sirius, James, Peter and Remus. The boys were eventually seen strolling casually towards the lake.

"You're late," said Becci, not meaning to sound cold; mornings weren't really her thing.

"Well we're here now," replied Sirius. "We had to go and see Dumbledore, he told us to head straight for the middle of the forest for now and when we get to the tree with purple leaves we should take a right. He said it was very important."

"Okay, shouldn't we get going then?" said Nazia.

The girls bent down to pick their bags up. Rebekah, Becci, Nazia and Uranda only had one bag each, (what the Muggles called 'rucksacks') unlike Katie who had insisted she needed more.

"Er, do you lot want any help?" asked Remus hesitantly.

"Oh, no, it's OK. We've bewitched them so they don't weigh much," replied Uranda, who was also holding Rebekah's bag. Rebekah, still feeling a little frail, was leaning heavily on a walking stick Dumbledore conjured for her. As they passed Hagrid's hut, James and Sirius stopped them.

"Hang on, Dumbledore told us to get two tents from Hagrid," said Sirius. They came back carrying two man-sized tents, held in mid air with their wands.

"We have to walk fast because according to Hagrid, it's going to take us a long time to get through the forest (and that's if we don't meet anything) and we should aim to get out of there before dusk." James reported. The girls looked at each other nervously. "What? Are you scared?" 

"Well… aren't there, er, not-very-nice monsters in there?" asked Katie. The boys grinned at each other.

"No point denying it, but yes," said James. The girls widened their eyes with alarm. "They're only, er, 'not-very-nice', if you provoke them."

"So you've been in there?" asked Nazia admiringly.

"Of course and we're still alive so, I suppose, if you're with us, you're safe." Sirius winked at them all and turned to walk into the forest. The boys strode ahead, Remus looking over his shoulder occasionally just to check the girls are still safe and well. The Forbidden Forest didn't seem so scary during the day. The wildly overgrown trees let almost no light through the canopy, but the girls felt relieved if they saw rare bursts of light. They also heard animals' running feet or cries, which seemed quite peaceful.

"You know, this is a very pretty place," said Becci, staring dreamily around.

"What, aside the fact that there are monsters who could kill in here with us?" asked Uranda sceptically.

"Stop being so paranoid." 

"How am I paranoid? I'm just saying the truth!" 

"Uranda isn't paranoid," said Rebekah calmly.

"Thank you."

"By the way, how do the boys know the way? I mean, there has to be hundreds of paths in here but so far we're only sticking to this main one," panted Katie as she caught up with them, dragging her six bags. Although they were bewitched to be feather-light, Katie small hands could not carry much, so she had tied them around her waist.

"They've been in here tons of times haven't they? They must have seen a tree with purple leaves before," said Nazia.

"Yeah well, I've just seen a tree with purple leaves over there, on the right." Katie pointed through the trees and sure enough, the girls could make out a purple leaved branch.

"Well, we'll have to give them a shout," said Becci turning round. "HEY… oh my god! Where are they?" The others whipped around, to find nothing but trees in front of them. 

"Oh great! Now what do we do? For god's sake, where did they go! They're so stupid!" Uranda started panicking, which wasn't very useful in situations when they needed to think. 

"We're going to die, we're going to die!" said Katie, dropping her bags and putting her hands over her mouth, eyes wide, 

"You two shut up. We're not going to die and… well I think we should go to that tree and see whether they're there." Rebekah was always the logical one. "Come on." She started to hobble onto the small path to their right, brushing through the thorns. The others followed her. The 'path' wasn't really a path, so the girls were getting more severely scratched as they went further in.

"It's getting darker in here," shouted Nazia, from the back of the line.

"Really? I hadn't noticed," said Becci sarcastically. "Ow! Ow! That really hurt! Ow!" Becci swore loudly.

"Stop over reacting to every little scratch," said Uranda who was behind her.

"I don't call getting a thorn or some poisonous needle dragged across my leg a 'little scratch'!" The others could all knew Becci was near hysterics and left her alone. They fought their way through the thorn bushes and spiky plants in silence, with occasional 'Ows' from Becci. At long last they seemed to have got to a clearing. They came out of the path one by one, all bleeding in various parts of their faces, arms and legs. Their robes were also ripped, and in Becci's case, shredded.

"Well, don't we look good," said Rebekah. She looked around for the purple leaved tree. "OK, so now, where is it?"

"I don't care, as long as we don't have to go through any more tortuous paths," said Becci, tearing a piece of the hem of her robe to bandage her leg.

"I think it should be further back than this," said Katie thoughtfully. They all turned around and started walking again. It was getting really dark and the girls knew that it must have been nearly dusk.

"They can't have left us you know," said Nazia helpfully.

"Yeah they can't have, I mean, they're only walking right next to us now," replied Uranda sardonically.

"I can't get my leg to stop bleeding! What shall I do?" cried Becci.

"Apply pressure to it." Rebekah wanted to be a Healer when they left Hogwarts, so she always knew what to do in these situations.

"Well, OK, I'll just die of blood loss then."

"Ugh! What is this stuff?" Katie had appeared to have walked into something large, silvery, silk like and sticky. "Yuck! I can't… oh god! I can't get out of this!" Katie started struggling violently. More and more of the silvery string was sticking to her.

"Katie! Stop moving!" shouted Nazia desperately.

"What the hell is that!" exclaimed Becci, forgetting her bleeding leg.

"It… it looks like a spider's web…" said Uranda squinting upwards. "But it can't be, it's too big!"

"Stop discussing what this is, I'm dying here!" exaggerated Katie. Nazia gave a sudden scream of terror. Rebekah, Becci, Uranda and Katie all looked in Nazia's direction. Marching towards them, on eight four foot hairy legs, the front two being pincers, were an army of spiders, all the sizes of elephants. Their shiny black pincers were making clicking noises and they approached the girls, who were all livid with terror.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!" whispered Becci. 

"What do we do?" asked Nazia, also whispering. The spiders were approaching at quite a rapid pace now.

"We can't do anything, but I think we should run," replied Becci hysterically, starting to back away.

"I can't run!" cried Rebekah.

"Don't leave me!" whimpered Katie. "Just, shoot a few spells… maybe… maybe they'll back away. I mean, they're only spiders aren't they?"

"Spiders the sizes of Spain!" said Becci in a strangled voice. She was getting more and more hysterical by the minute.

"OK, OK, spells, spells…. Which spell!" cried Uranda, also near hysterics. "OH GOD!" A few spiders were already surrounding them, unsure of whether to attack.

"OK, OK, stop them moving, moving… moving…" mumbled Uranda. "Oh I can't… PETRIFICUS TOTALUS !" A jet of purple light shot out from her wand to the nearest spider. The spider stopped moving as it's legs snapped underneath its bodies and it toppled over with a large crash to the ground. The others started yelling 'Petrificus Totalus ' at the spiders too. However, more and more were advancing towards them and they couldn't control them all.

"What do we do now?" screamed Nazia. Suddenly the Gryffindor boys shot out from no where.

"Where have you been!" demanded James angrily.

"We've been looking everywhere and… what are they!" asked Sirius, suddenly spotting the spiders.

"That's what we'd like to know and there are more coming!" shrieked Rebekah, pointing. Peter gave a sudden screech. The others saw him being lifted up by one of the spiders. Peter was wiggling his arms and legs about, livid with terror.

"Peter, transform!" shouted Remus, getting out his wand. With a pop, Peter transformed into a rat and the spider lost hold. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The spider flew up and soared across the sky, landing out of sight.

"I think it could be time to try out our new spell from Professor Lewis!" shouted James gleefully. He took a careful aim at the spiders. "Churio maximus!" A huge green fireball erupted from the end of his wand and shot at the spiders. The spiders were all set alight. The girls were all relieved, except Nazia.

"Isn't that a bit mean, setting them on fire?" she asked apprehensively.

"Yeah it is, as supposed to them eating us," said Peter dryly, transforming back. 

"There's more!" shouted Katie suddenly.

Sirius who was busy untying her from the spider's web turned around. He pointed his wand and said "Crucio!"

The spiders stopped walking towards them. Instead they all stopped and started twitching uncontrollably. They started to back down and within moments disappeared from the path. All the girls began to breathe normally again. Becci, who nearly hyperventilated, was busy being sick in a bush. Remus and Nazia at once went over to her.

"Sirius… you did an unforgivable curse…" said Rebekah slowly.

"Well spotted. There, I think you can move now." Katie started gingerly to move her arms and legs.

"Thanks." Katie looked at Sirius carefully. "How do you know how to do the Cruciatus curse?" 

"Parents," replied Sirius grimly.

"And you lot better get used to the Unforgivable curses. We're going to have to use them a lot if we're going to survive long enough to go back to the Leaving Ball," added James.

"What's so great about the Leaving Ball?" asked Uranda.

"Well, you're going to dance with me," replied James cheekily. Uranda blushed.

"Yeah I might if it's a choice between you and Umbridge."

"Why did you come here anyway?" asked Remus, coming back over.

"Well, where were you lot? We were walking along and then you lot disappeared! Katie saw a tree with purple leaves so we thought you might have got here," explained Rebekah. She adjusted her stick and propped herself heavily onto it again.

"Oh, I guess we walked too fast," said Peter.

"No we didn't, they walked too slow."

"Oh I'm so sorry I can't stride along with you guys," retorted Rebekah sarcastically. "It's just I really wanted this walking stick and everything."

"Oh shut up, we need to get out of this forest by dusk and we're not going to at this rate," said Nazia sensibly.

"And I am not, I repeat, NOT, going to have anymore encounters with giant spiders or poisonous thorn bushes," informed Becci.

"You walked into a poisonous thorn bush?" asked Remus anxiously.

"Oh god, no we didn't, she's just exaggerating everything. Can we please move?" asked Uranda exasperated.

They started to walk on the path again. This time the boys stayed next to the girls.


	8. Someone's jealous

The group of friends was walking tiredly along through the forest. By now, it was mid-afternoon, and getting much hotter. They were all getting rather irritable. Uranda and Becci were frequently sniping at each other, and Nazia was hopping between them, as usual, trying to keep the amity.

After an hour or so, James stopped.

"Hey…is that…" He pointed ahead of them.

"The tree!" Rebekah gasped. "The tree with purple leaves!"

The nine of them rushed forward (Rebekah being helped by Katie and Remus) and into site came an colossal tree. It had a giant, gnarled, dark brown trunk, from which came many branches at all levels. These in turn were topped off with bright plum-coloured leaves that seemed to almost glisten.

"Do you think this is it?" Peter asked.

Becci reached up and picked a leaf off the tree. She waved it in front of Peter's face. "What colour is this?" she said.

"Well -"

"Exactly."

"What do we do now then?" Uranda said, leaning back against the tree.

"I think we should rest for a while," Sirius suggested.

"Yeah, I think so too," Katie agreed in a neutral tone.

Nazia and Becci sat down on the forest floor, leaning back against the tree.

"Erm…" Rebekah cleared her throat, sounding a little embarrassed. "You should probably know… I drank all the water… Sorry…"

James sighed. "Never mind… We can get some more."

"I'll go," Nazia said.

"Yeah, me too." Becci stood up. She seemed to be determinedly not staring at Remus.

"Oh, we all will," said Uranda. She looked over at Katie, who didn't react. "Come on, Katie."

Katie's face fell. "Oh - but -" She glanced over at Sirius, then back to the others with a pleading look.

"Come on," Uranda repeated, snatching her wrist and dragging her away.

"Um," Rebekah waved feebly. "I'm going to stay here and probably get some sleep…"

"Will you be okay?" Nazia asked.

"Don't worry," Sirius said, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, "we'll look after her."

Katie choked. Uranda nudged her in the ribs.

"Let's just get going," said Becci, rolling her eyes.

They turned and started walking, mutually deciding to follow the clearest path until they came across water, thereby avoiding getting lost. As their voices faded away, Rebekah felt herself slowly drifting off into sleep.  
Jerking awake again, however, she heard voices. Not that of her friends, but male voices. She realised she must have been asleep for a while and woken up in the middle of a conversation between James, Remus, Peter and Sirius. For a split second, she considered telling them that she was awake, then decided against it, and kept her eyes shut.

"…long can it take to get some water?" Sirius was saying.

"You don't know how far away it is," Remus told him fairly.

"Your impatience makes me wonder, Padfoot," said James, a note of laughter in his voice, "what are you waiting for?"

"Oh, shut up," said Sirius, sounding annoyed.  
James continued. "Could it be a certain blonde-haired girl?"

"I said, shut up!"

"Aww, look who's all sensitive about it…"

"Don't be cruel, James," Remus said, sounding as though he was trying very hard not to laugh. "Just because he's all love struck…"

"You can't talk, Moony, you're the one who's been moping around for the past week or whatever," Sirius said. Remus fell silent. Sirius faltered, "I - I mean -"

"Never mind," Remus said quietly.

"I have to say, this little adventure, so far it's been better than I expected," said Peter, thoughtfully. "I mean, for some reason I didn't realise the perks of going on a long trek accompanied by five girls… Well - four, plus my sister…"

"Nazia is a girl, Wormtail, deal with it," Sirius laughed. "And a nice one at that!"

"I like Uranda…" Peter said dreamily. James looked at him.

"Yeah, so do I," he agreed.

"And it's pretty obvious she likes you, Prongs!" Sirius grinned.

"…What do you mean?" James asked curiously.

"Well… She does!" Sirius replied.

James sat up a little. "She does?" Sirius nodded. "Wow…"

"Don't even think about it, James," said Remus  
seriously. "What about Lily?"

James blinked. "What about her?"

"Oh, God…" said Sirius. "You've fancied her since your second year, and as soon as someone likes you (for once), you forget all about her!"

"Well, no… I haven't forgotten about her…" James said. He looked vaguely into the distance for a moment, then snapped out of it. "I don't know."

"Look, I need to tell you something," said Remus suddenly.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"I… I think Rebekah fancies me," he said quickly.

"Huh? Fancy you?"

"Yeah, well, I think so," Remus replied. "Except I -"

Sirius interrupted, "Well, I mean, are you sure? I've never noticed, but… She fancies you?"

James shifted uncomfortably. "I may be reading the wrong signs, but I thought she fancied me…"

"Oh… maybe I'm wrong then," said Remus quickly, blushing slightly. "I'm going to go see if I can find them." He got up quickly and disappeared into the trees.

"Poor guy…" Sirius mumbled.

Peter sighed. "I always thought she fancied me…"  
---

James was walking ahead of the rest of the group, absent mindedly playing with a new snitch that he had taken from the quidditch store cupboard before setting out on the journey. They were all surprised to hear him shout excitedly at the top of his voice, causing birds to fly out of the trees.

'I found a place to camp,' he exclaimed joyously. It was nearly eight o' clock and after a full days travelling they were all tired.

'Well done Prongs,' Sirius yelled back, followed by a small bark of laughter which he had let out for no apparent reason.

'Phew, I was getting tired,' Katie said quietly.

'You're tired? You're only carrying two of your bags, I'm carrying two of yours and so is Moony'

'You don't mind though, do you? Katie asked flirtatiously.

He let out yet another bark of laughter and raised his dark, shaped eyebrows. When they all arrived at the little clearing they all dumped their bags and lay down along side James. After a few minutes of silence Remus spoke for the first time in hours.

'Who's got the tents; I'll start putting them up now before it gets too dark'

'I don't mind helping' Nazia said kindly.

'I'll start the cooking, I'm so hungry,' she paused, 'and Uranda can help.' Rebekah said. Uranda gave a small groan but got up and went to go and get the small cauldron Rebekah had insisted on bringing out of her bag.

Sirius walked a few metres away and then lit a fire with his wand. The blue flames lit up the faces of the nine and gave a spooky glow to the trees surrounding the forest.

In five short minutes the two tents were up, Hagrid had lent them two small boxes that contained the tents. One was pink and one blue.

'Boys get the blue' yelled Sirius.

'That's hardly fair, I hate pink, its such a stereotypical girl's colour' Becci said in a moody voice.

'Oh, I love pink, it's my favourite colour' said Rebekah. She had been feeling considerably better since she had had a rest and was now almost back to her old self.

'I don't mind pink,' Peter said in an attempt to join in.

'Puff' James said under his breath, it was however a loud whisper which they all heard.

There was an uneasy silence while they all bustled around, getting comfy for the night.

'Hey, foods ready' Uranda said.

'Good, it smells lovely, you are good cooks, come and cook for me when I'm old…' Sirius said jokily.

'Fat chance' Uranda muttered under her breath.

After the meal, they all began to relax. They all sat around the now blazing fire for warmth, because the night was a cold one for July. The nine were animatedly talking about their favourite bands. Katie was trying to tell Remus the life history of Warren Layes. Uranda, Becci and Peter were talking about King- the latest rock band. James was chatting to Nazia.

Sirius signalled to Rebekah from across the fire. She looked around the circle startled wandering who he was pointing at.

'You' he mouthed, pointing a finger at her.

She pushed herself up, attempting to be unnoticed. She walked calmly into the trees. She was quickly joined by Sirius, who had a mischievous look on his face.

'What's up?' Rebekah asked.

'Nothing, just fancied a chat,' Sirius replied.

'Why couldn't we chat by the fire with the others?'

'No reason, I suppose I just got bored.'

The two walked for about half an hour using their wands to guide them. When they reached a stream lit by moonlight they both sat down and Sirius locked his fingers in between Rebekah's. She let out a giggle as she looked up at the moon. He kissed her hand and then her cheek gently. After a few minutes, Rebekah asked 'what time is it do you think?'

'Umm, about midnight, its very dark…' Sirius said.

'We had better get back, the others might be worrying about us…'

'I doubt it, but I'm sure Katie will be missing me.'

'I can't argue with that' Rebekah giggled.

They began to make their way back. Sirius changing every few seconds from a human to a dog. …

'Its weird you know…'

'What?' Sirius asked.

'Well, I thought I knew Remus really well, but then I find out he's a werewolf. I don't blame him for not telling everyone, after all, I haven't told anyone but you guys and Dumbledore.'

'He's really upset about what happened you know. He blames himself.'

'But it wasn't his fault, we shouldn't be so nosy'

'Number two problem with girls, that is, nosiness.'

'What's number one?' Rebekah asked.

'Giggling too much' he said nudging her as

The others had not noticed that Sirius and Rebekah were gone for about quarter of an hour. It had been Nazia who had asked Uranda, she had replied 'what do you mean?' and then shouted it out to everyone.

'We must find them NOW…' Katie said frantically.

'Why?' James said, 'They're old enough to look after themselves.'

'Oh, she's not worried about them in that way…' Uranda blurted out.

Katie gave her a look of hatred and then wandered off into the trees as though they had been blown there by the wind.

Another forty-five minutes passed, by this time Katie was sitting in the tent by herself, wandering what they were doing.

Sirius ran, barking into the camp and bounded up to James, catching the snitch between his jaws and running off with it.

'Where were you?' Peter asked.

'We just went for a walk, there's a really pretty stream about half an hour in that direction,' she said pointing into the trees from which they had just come.

'Well, now your back from your little escapade, we can go to bed.' Uranda said moodily.

'Night' the girls all chanted.

'See you in the morning,' the boys replied.

They all went into their tents (the girls in the pink and the boys in the blue.) Katie was slumped on the camp bed, fully clothed making very unrealistic snoring noises.

'Why is she in a mood?' Rebekah asked.

'Why do you think?' Uranda mouthed.

They all got into the bunks in the unusually spacious tents. Uranda, Becci and Nazia fell asleep almost as soon as their heads touched the pillow. Two, however lay awake. Rebekah wandering what was so wrong with going for a walk. Katie thinking and pondering about what Sirius and Rebekah had done on this 'walk.'


	9. Grog

At the crack of dawn, the sound of barking could be heard from the girls tent. Becci put her pillow over her head as a feeble attempt to block out the sound.

'For God sake,' she croaked 'Can't a girl get her sleep!'. At this point all the girls apart from Becci were sitting up in their sleeping bags, apart from Becci that is, who was sliding down to the bottom of her sleeping bag.

'They can't be up yet!' said Rebekah.

'It's too early…I know we weren't suppose to waste any time, but the sun hasn't even come up yet,' said Katie lifting up the bottom of her tent. As she did this as a deep groan could be heard.

'Wh-What was that?' said Nazia anxiously.

'Come on let's go and see. It's probably nothing anyway,' said Uranda sensibly.

'Hello! We can't just go outside when there's barely any light, in a forest that has worse than giant spiders in it!' screeched Becci, finally climbing out of her sleeping bag.

The girls had all clambered out of their sleeping bags by now and were arguing over who should go out first. They were stopped by another monotonous groan from outside then barking again.

'We're not going to go out are we…it'll be like murder,' said Rebekah.

'Well what if the boys are hurt?' said Becci turning slightly pale.

'Oh come on, let's just go!' said Uranda suddenly zipping open the tent. Uranda, Katie, Nazia and Rebekah all gasped.

' What-what-what is it?' exclaimed Becci trampling over all the sleeping bags until she finally got to Katie and then tripped over on her feet., 'Ooooooooooh!'

'Oh no, it's got James and is reaching out for Remus!' screeched Nazia.

'Noooooooooooooo!' said Becci as she dived out of the tent they were peering from and sprinted all the way to Remus, which was quite surprising as she hated any form of exercise. She clung onto him as he was flung into the air, but as she looked up she let go in astonishment.

'Becci are you alright?' screamed Rebekah running towards her followed by the others and a dog barking at their heels.

'I'm alive.' she said scrambling out of the way as the big thing took a step forward.

'Look, it's Peter!' said Nazia, staring at her brother's head poking out of the tent. By this time Sirius had appeared in person and the troll was strolling away squashing trees, with snot dripping from his nose.

'Nooooo, he has Remus!' screamed Becci instantly recovering from her fall and running after the thing.

'Don't worry Becci, Grog is our friend,' said Sirius trying to hold Becci back.

'Well he's not my friend!' said Peter, finally coming out of the tent. He still looked shaken up as he stared at Rebekah waiting for her reaction

'What? Peter what?' she said when his staring had freaked her out. 'It's not like I'm going to congratulate you for being the biggest wimp in the world. 'You saw Becci had fallen, and you still sat there!'

'Are the boys safe then?' said Uranda, looking inquisitively at Sirius.

'Yeah, they're fine,' he replied, 'Grog won't hurt them. He won't hurt anything….' said Sirius, staring at the trampled trees. 'Well… he won't hurt anything knowingly.'

'He's a troll!' screamed Becci hysterically. 'He's a big ugly troll who's got my boyfriend!'

'Don't…he might hear,' said Sirius fearfully.

Suddenly a huge thumping sound could be heard behind them and Grog appeared. He had Remus and James in each hand and was putting then down gently. Becci ran over to Remus and overwhelmed him with a big breath-taking hug. Katie looked scared and took a step behind Sirius. They all stared at Grog who looked like he had something in his eye. Then all of a sudden he started crying. Well it looked like it was raining at first, but they realized it was Grog when a giant snot sized rain drop splashed down metres away from them.

"Huhroooawww! Huhrooooooaaaaawww!" Grog was sobbing uncontrollably, deafening everyone.

"Can someone stop him?" yelled Peter, covering his ears, quivering like a rat.

"And how would we do that?" asked Becci.

"If we ask what's wrong-" began Nazia.  
"Sure we can. I mean, we all speak Troll after all!" said Uranda sarcastically.  
"Oh yeah…"

"Um, maybe we should just…" Grog gave a sudden roar, interrupting Katie in mid-sentence. Everyone jumped as the troll stood up, swaying slightly from side to side, glaring warily at them.

"Okay, first time I've met a drunk troll," remarked James, apparently unconcerned.

"You know, I swear someone once said that Troll language is just grunting and pointing," proclaimed Rebekah.

"Uh huh, and the likelihood of me standing there grunting is zero!" mumbled Sirius. "I reckon we should just shoot a few spells at it to drive him away…"

"Trolls are really stupid, aren't they?" inquired Peter.

"Yeah, but they're also about eighteen feet tall!" exclaimed Becci. "Our spells probably won't hurt him."

"It's only a troll, not a giant. Grog is only about seven foot," observed Katie.

"Does it really matter? I think we should just pack and walk away slowly before he tries to do anything to us," said Uranda sensibly.

"Okay, well I'll start to pack then." Nazia hurried into the girls' tent, Rebekah following closely behind. Abruptly Grog gave another thunderous roar. Everyone started to back away as Grog moved towards them. Sirius, James and Remus, however, were standing at the front, with their wands stuck out, appearing to be deciding on which spell to use. Peter gave a little gasp from behind Katie as the troll gave them a menacing glare. The boys turned to face them excitedly.

"Look," whispered Remus. "I guess the best spell to hit a troll with is the Aromatanio spell. You see, trolls, to us, stink. But their smell is like an extra sense, as it can help guide them."

"They use their smell to court as well," added Sirius helpfully.

"Yeah, it's like a special brand of deodorant," said James.

"One person isn't enough to send the spell to make it effective," continued Remus, ignoring Sirius and James. "But with all of us, I think it should work. The basic idea of aromatanio is to send a powerful, yet nice, smell towards the subject. Therefore, it will drive him away. So everyone has got that right? The incantation is 'aromascia pronto' and the wand move…"

"Um, that's a great idea you three," said Uranda, trying not to laugh.

"However, Grog has just turned around and into the forest!" finished Katie. The three boys whipped around. Sure enough, Grog could be seen between the trees. Nazia and Rebekah came out with all the girls' rucksacks.

"We just need to take down the tent!" called Rebekah. "Where's Grog?" Suddenly they all heard a big splash.

"Oh that wasn't Grog was it? Oh poor him! He's going to drown!" said Nazia sadly.

"Why do you care?" asked Peter.

"I thought he was your friend!" said Becci, scowling. James and Sirius chose that moment to yawn loudly, ignoring the 'friend' remark.

"Let's go back to bed, it's only 5:32am!" All four boys walked slowly back into their tent. The girls stood there looking disbelievingly at each other.

"I don't think I'm going to get back to sleep," said Uranda.

"Well we've packed everything anyway. Let's just make breakfast," said Rebekah, stifling a yawn.


	10. Up the mountain

It was 9 o' clock by the time the boys had washed, eaten and were fully awake.

"OK, listen. While you were all snoring away while we were making breakfast for ourselves and you…"

"We know we're lazy," interrupted James. "No need to state it."

"Basically," continued Rebekah, "Dumbledore said we have to climb over some mountains. You know, just in case we have anymore surprise attacks, like with Grog…"

"Grog didn't exactly attack us though," said Sirius.

"Stop interrupting her!" said Uranda sharply. "We just thought that if we do have any surprise attacks on the way, if someone is up in front of the rest, the others can be warned and prepared or whatever if there's another spider or troll or giant when they hear a shout or something."

"Sounds good to me. So since you're so organized, who have you appointed to go first?" Remus looked around the group. Everyone shifted uncomfortably.

"How about Uranda?" suggested Nazia. "She has the loudest voice after all."

"Thanks," replied Uranda sardonically.

"Well you did win that Muggle sport thing at Leaders' camp one year. Uh… that sport… what do you call it?  
Ab-aby-abyssssinia…" said Katie thinking hard.

"Abyssina is a country," Becci informed them all.

"Yeah, it's where the Italian Muggles attacked before World War Two," said Remus knowledgeably.

"Muggles are so weird," said Peter.

Everyone stood still for a few minutes looking thoughtful.

"Uh, I think we're getting a little sidetracked," said Rebekah finally. "And Katie means abseiling."

Becci turned to Uranda. "I never knew you won the abseiling competition!"

"That's because I never did."

"Katie, you won!" said Nazia.

"I thought Rebekah did," said Becci.

"Then it was definitely me who won!" determined Katie, flashing a triumphant look at Rebekah, who was about to protest. Uranda saw this and said quickly,

"Look, either way, it doesn't matter. We're trying to get up the mountain, not down. But I don't mind going ahead… as long as someone comes with me."

"I'll go," offered Rebekah.

"Um, is it safe with you two girls…" began Remus.  
"Feeling sexist today are we?" snapped Becci. She seemed to have forgotten a few hours ago she embarrassingly called out that he was her 'boyfriend', and switched from being worried about him to being angry.

"No! I, well…" Remus' voice faltered. James gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"Well, look. Rebekah, you're still not very strong so I think you should stay with the bigger group. I'll go with Uranda."

"But I don't…" said Uranda, about to complain.

"Padfoot, do you have your mirror?" asked James, ignoring her.

"Yup." Sirius reached into his robes and pulled out a mirror to match James'. Remus and Peter didn't look surprised. The girls however, seemed to be trying hard not to laugh.

"What?" Sirius and James said together.

"Um, I suppose there's nothing wrong with boys having matching mirrors…" said Nazia, turning away to hide her laughter.

"You're getting as vain as Katie!" exclaimed Rebekah.

"I'm NOT vain!" said Katie defensively.

"Even we didn't bring mirrors!" said Becci. "Well, apart from Katie…"

"Who collects them," added Uranda.

"And is already planning 'Scarlett's mirrors' in Diagon Alley!" finished Becci. Even Katie laughed.

"Okay, okay, but these mirrors aren't for looking at ourselves. It's so that we can speak to each other when we aren't together, like in detentions," explained Sirius.

"And I thought instead of shouting, I could use the mirror," said James, running his hand over his rumpled hair.  
"Come on, we should go now. I think we have to go through another part of the forest."

- -

The boys were striding ahead, the girls following a little behind.

"Hm, so Sirius and James stare into each other's faces during detentions…" said Becci thoughtfully.

"Boring their eyes into each others…" chipped in Uranda.

"Occasionally stroking each other's faces…" put in Rebekah.

"Shut up! Sirius isn't in love with James!" said Katie.

"Aww, defending poor Sirry are we?" teased Rebekah.

"Shut up Rebekah Sheepe, you aren't funny." Katie stormed ahead, leaving everyone confused.

- -

When they got to the first mountain, James and Uranda climbed up first, Uranda a little reluctantly. They were about twenty metres in front of the others when James started to speak.

"Are you angry at me?" he asked.

"Why would I be?"

"You don't like being alone with me do you?" he insisted, avoiding her eyes.

"Not particularly," said Uranda bluntly. James fell silent. They carried on walking along, Uranda making sure she was behind James and not next to him.

"Oh god…" Uranda looked at the huge piles of rock in front of them in disbelief. "I don't think I can get over that."

"I'll go first so I can help you." James started to climb, Uranda following unsteadily. James stuck out his hand.

"Hold on to me!"

"No way!" Uranda clutched at the rocks. Suddenly she felt like she was slipping and indistinctively grabbed James' hand. She started to blush as James and her climbed up securely. When they at last got over the rock piles James didn't let go. Uranda also didn't offer to remove her hand. They walked on in silence. A short while later James said,

"Are you tired?"

"Uh I guess. Maybe we could sit down for a bit…" Uranda seemed to suddenly be aware of the fact she was still holding James' hand and snatched her hand away quickly. James grinned.

"What's your favourite animal?" asked Uranda, desperate to say something before James could say anything embarrassing about holding hands.

"Stag of course. What's yours?"

"Um, well it's a bit strange but I like elephants and mice…" James stopped grinning and looked a little hurt.  
"You mean you like rats?"

"Rats, mice, nearly the same thing, so yes."

James turned away and started at the ground. Then-

"You fancy Peter don't you?"

"Huh? Well…"

"You want to go out with him."

"Uh, well…"

"Well, you'll be happy to know he fancies you too."

Uranda looked surprised. "He does?"

James turned to face her. "See! You do like him!" He now looked hurt and angry. "And I thought you and me…" He blushed and quickly looked away. Uranda grew angry.

"What about me and you? Why do you care so much about my love life? You fancy Lily remember!"

"Not anymore! It's you I…" James was interrupted when they heard a yell from down below and someone falling. Someone screamed. They looked at each other, both pale.

"It must be one of them!" cried Uranda. As one, they both turned to hurry back.


	11. The Accident

The others watched as Uranda and James went off ahead. Becci smiled.

"Wonder what they're up to..."

"What?" Nazia said, looking enquiringly at her friends.

"Nazia," said Katie, then felt it wasn't necessary to continue. Rebekah wasn't saying anything, just staring moodily after James and Uranda. Nazia noticed her silence.

"What's up?" she asked gently.

"Nothing!" Rebekah snapped.

Katie snorted. "Yeah, it's not like you're upset because James fancies Uranda and not you-"

"Shut up!"

They continued walking for a while, not speaking very much. The hill was getting steeper, and they came to a very thin path which they had to be very careful when crossing, as directly next to it was a long plummet, going straight down half the climb. The girls (minus Uranda) had just walked past it, when they heard a yell from behind them, immediately followed by -

"SIRIUS!"

The girls looked at each other for a split second, then ran back. Peter was standing up, looking panicky, chewing his nails. Remus was on his stomach, lying on the ground with both arms over the side of the cliff.

"What's happening?" Becci demanded of Peter.

"Sirius, he - we were just - well we, I mean, it wasn't like, no, we were -"

"Spit it out!" Nazia shouted.

"Sirius fell over the cliff!"

Katie screamed and ran forward, the others close behind her.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," Rebekah repeated, over and over. Sirius was hanging onto Remus's arms with just one hand. He looked positively terrified - his face was white, he was sweating, his pupils were dilated. He seemed to be struggling to breathe. Remus wasn't much better. Sirius was apparently heavier than he looked, as Remus had a look of great pain on his face. This was probably also to do with the rocks and pebbles sticking out of the ground underneath him.

"Pull him up, pull him up!" Becci screeched frantically.

"I'm - trying -" Remus gasped, as Uranda and James came running back, apparently having heard the commotion.

"What - oh God!" James yelped, seeing what was going on. He sprinted closer to the cliff edge, but –

"No!" yelled Remus. "The rest of you - just stay back!"

James started to protest, "But Remus, I -"

"I don't want - anyone else - in danger!"

So, everyone else stood back, Uranda's fingernails digging into Becci's arm, who didn't notice, as she was concentrating on not listening to her pounding heart, Katie turning away, covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut, Rebekah staring straight at Remus and Sirius, her eyes wide, and Nazia and Peter with their arms around one another, each trying and failing to console their twin. James was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, in an attempt to follow Remus's command and not end up running straight over the cliff-edge himself.

If any of them had been calm enough to listen, they might have heard Remus muttering under his breath, "One... two... THREE!" He suddenly pulled up and back with all his might, and slowly but surely, Sirius was dragged back up onto safe ground. He rapidly crawled away from the edge, then collapsed, panting. Seconds later, everyone had piled on top of him, yelling and shrieking and scolding and generally making far too much noise. It was only when they heard a muffled "I can't BREATHE!" that they stood up again, and all carried on, much more animated and vibrant than before.

Later that night, the group had set up camp in a forest clearing. The girls were sitting over one side, and the boys the other. Uranda, Nazia, Becci, Katie and Rebekah had finished eating and were chatting to each other, starting to consider turning in. Becci looked over at where the boys were sitting, and stood up, vaguely telling the others that she'd "be back in a minute" before walking in the direction of the boys.

James glanced up and saw Becci standing.

"Hey, look," he said, jerking his thumb in her direction. "Wonder who she wants to talk to..."

"Okay, Moony," said Sirius, sounding like he was about to give Remus a pep talk, "remember what we said. You're not going to stand for any of her rubbish."

"Right," Remus nodded.

"You're going to defend yourself, and be assertive," James ordered.

"Got it." Remus stood up, and walked over to meet Becci. She tucked her hair distractedly behind her ear.

"Hi, Remus," she said, a note of timidity in her voice.

"Hi, Bec-"

Becci cut him off. "Look, before you say anything, I just came over to tell you that, well, I thought you were really brave today and, um, selfless, and, well, so, well done, I mean, oh, for God's sake." And then she turned around and went back to her friends. Remus stood where he was.

"Damn," he murmured to himself. "That wasn't particularly assertive."


	12. The Argument

The next day they carried on up the mountain, walking up the winding path that was leading them towards the summit. The sun was fast disappearing when Uranda shouted "I'm gonna put a flag here, to prove that we climbed up the tallest mountain ever"

"This is not tall, I visited Mount Everest when was on holiday in Nepal." Katie was constantly reminding the others of all the places she had visited. Her Dad ran a flying carpet company and so they could fly all over the world and only pay a few sickles!

"Uranda, you are so random…" James pointed out.

"We can't stop now, we must be nearly there," Sirius yelled impatiently.

However, the group were only half way up the mountain and the darkness was closing in upon them.

"Hey, do you reckon we'll be able to breathe up there?" Katie asked.

Rebekah started to giggle and performed a bubblehead charm on Katie to illustrate just how stupid what she had just said was. "Yeah, Dumbledore sent us somewhere where we are all going to suffocate."

It was not very surprising that with the fading light, tiredness after a whole days walking and amid a torrent of giggles that Rebekah slipped on loose pebbles and fell flat on her face, scraping her knees and elbows.

"OW!" she yelled as she gingerly got to her feet, and fell back again. My ankle, I think I've sprained it."

"Are you sure?" Becci asked.

"I don't think I can walk."

"Well, maybe someone can carry you," Nazia said pleasantly, as if she was watching some kind of light-hearted television programme.

"Yeah, you can Niz," Uranda said decidedly.

"O.K,". she smiled.

A few minutes later, Rebekah was positioned fairly comfortably on Nazia's back, and the party was moving onwards once more.

"What'd we do without her?" Becci asked the others. They continued in this fashion for roughly half a mile until Nazia began to drop behind.

"Are you O.K?" Remus asked.

"Yes," Nazia said breathlessly. "I'm absolutely fine," she added determinately.

"Look, just give her here – before you sprain your ankle" Sirius said.

"I'm not luggage!" Rebekah added defensively as Uranda and Katie helped her off Nazia and onto Sirius.

"How much longer can it be?" Katie asked Sirius a few moments later, a twinkle in her eye, "I think I hurt my ankle as well."

"Katie, you don't have any ankles!" Sirius said, smiling.

"Yeah, stop trying to get a ride on Sirius' back," Uranda said at the top of her voice, "Just because you're jealous of Rebekah."

The others all laughed, except no one thought to ask how Sirius knew Katie was ankle less.

"You're so mean to me!" Katie laughed, and marched off purposefully to Remus, a little way ahead.

"It's strange, she's clever academically, except she seems quite immature compared to the rest of you," Sirius said.

"Rebekah and Katie have some very interesting conversations…" Uranda blurted out.

"Uh, we do not" Rebekah retorted

"What about?" Sirius asked.

"Don't go there." Becci muttered, as she quickly ran in the direction of Katie and Remus, who were chatting animatedly. James was walking a few metres ahead of Katie and Remus.

"Hey, Padfoot! Come walk with me!" he called.

"Sorry mate," Sirius replied, "I can't go much faster than this with her on my back."

"Oh. Right…" James looked at them all. "Tam! You'll do!" Uranda decided to ignore him. "Hey, Tam!"

"Her name is Uranda!" Katie called to him. She was often able to read Uranda's actions (apparently) very well.

"Fine," he said reluctantly, "Uranda, could you please walk with me?"

"Uh-huh… Fine," She said, stomping off in his direction.

So Rebekah and Sirius were left alone for the second time. "Umm…Hi," Rebekah said.

"Hi," replied Sirius.

Rebekah started to giggle uncontrollably.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I don't know."

Sirius stumbled on a loose rock.

"Are you O.K.? Sirius asked.

"Yes, but kind of uncomfortable," Rebekah said.

"Oh… I could carry you in my arms if you want."

"O.K," she agreed.

So she gingerly got down off his back, grimaced at the pain shooting through her arm. He lifted her in his arms – showing off his muscles.

"You should wear your hair down," Sirius said.

"Well it makes me hot, but O.K." she untied her hair and let it blow across her face in the wind. At that moment Katie looked back across her shoulder. Sirius began to stroke Rebekah's hair gently. Katie narrowed her eyes and tossed her hair and suddenly became very interested in the back of Becci's head, who was walking a few metres ahead.

"Your hair is really soft," Sirius said.

"So is yours" she replied.

"Are you O.K. now? After the whole werewolf thing?

"Yes."

"Hopefully, by the end of the week I'll be back to my normal self" Rebekah said, with a grin braking across her face.

What's he doing?" Uranda asked James, watching Sirius and Rebekah, who were now, for some reason, in fits of giggles. "I thought he fancied Katie!"

James shrugged. "Sirius is…complicated. It's hard to tell with him sometimes. One minute he can be wild and careless, the next he can be deadly serious…I don't know how he feels right now."

"But most of the time you do, surely?"

"Well, yeah…I've known him for so long I understand him a lot of the time. But with girls…" James grinned, "I have no idea."

"Oh yeah, because with girls everyone is completely different!"

James thought for a moment.

"Yeah."

Uranda pulled an annoyed face. "Oh God…"

After another half an hour had passed, the group decided to set up camp on a patch of flat land surrounded by trees. It took, as expected, quite a while to set up the tents, as they girls all protested they were 'dead'. It also didn't help that Rebekah was constantly begging both the girls and boys to accompany her to the toilet. Eventually, after some persuasion, Uranda and Becci reluctantly agreed, while Peter and Nazia went to fetch some water. They were sure there was a stream nearby. James and Remus disappeared into their tent, (both were complaining about their aching feet) leaving Katie and Sirius alone.

Katie pulled off her shoes and flung them unceremoniously to the side of her. She then lay down on the grass, apparently unaware of Sirius. He also lay down a little way away from her, and began picking at the blades of grass dreamily, his black hair flopping casually over his dark eyes. Having collected a handful, he tossed it in Katie's direction, and it sprinkled on her face. He grinned as she brushed it off carelessly, and muttered under her breath:

"Thanks. That was really kind of you."

"You're welcome," Sirius replied calmly, staring vaguely up at the darkening sky. The next few minutes were spent in silence, until he said: "I get the feeling you're a bit pissed off with me, Katie."

"Huh?" she replied, not looking at him, "Am I?"

"Yeah," he continued, "And I'm not sure why. I haven't done anything to upset you, have I?"

"No, no, of course not," Katie said, "You're an angel, Sirius, really."

"Well, that's going a bit over the top," Sirius replied. It sounded as if he was smiling as he said: "But if I do upset you…make you angry, annoyed, sad, jealous even, you'd tell me, wouldn't you?"

"Yuh-huh," she said, "Whatever…"

James appeared at the entrance to the tent, "Hey Padfoot! Going to join us? Or are you busy?"

"Does it look like?" Sirius called back. James looked at the two of them, then shrugged. "But no, I can't be bothered."

James nodded, and went back inside.

"You and James…you're really close, aren't you?" Katie asked quietly.

"He's the best friend I've ever had," Sirius replied confidently, "I'm going to live with him over the summer actually…"

"Really? Why?"

"Oh, I've just had enough of my house…My mother's an obsessive pureblood, my father's never there, Regulus… well, he's just getting out of hand. I just can't stand it anymore. I'd much rather go live with the Potters."

"Oh…I see…"

Sirius thought for a moment. "I'd die for James, you know? And I think he'd do the same for me."

"Awww! That's sweet!"

"Sweet?" exclaimed Sirius, "Us? Sweet? I don't think so!"

"But it's cute!" Katie laughed.

"I'm not the cute type, I'm afraid."

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"You are!"

"I am not!"

"You-"

"Look, you're cute. A cat's cute. I'm not!" he said.

"…You think I'm cute?"

Sirius grinned, and ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe."

"Oh-"

"HEY SIRIUS!"

Katie and Sirius turned to see Rebekah hurrying towards them, with Uranda and Becci a little way behind. She was smiling broadly.

"Oh my God, it was so funny…"

Rebekah proceeded to tell Sirius the hilarious happenings of the three girls' toilet visit (which won't be repeated here) causing him to bark with laughter. She then grabbed his hand, asking him to come with her to see the flowers a few minutes' walk away. Barely a moment later the couple had disappeared amongst the trees, although their cheerful laughter could be heard for quite a while longer.

An hour later the couple arrived back. Dinner had been eaten already, and the others were all lounging around Remus' rather successful fire. On seeing Rebekah and Sirius, everyone smiled and waved at them, apart from Katie, who didn't bother to look up.

"Where have you been?" James asked Sirius, "We've been given the job of washing up by these, er… fair ladies. We've been waiting for you!"

"Oh, sorry…" Sirius replied, "We went to see the flowers, then we got a bit lost, then we came to a stream and sat there for a while, then we got a bit lost together again…"

"Come on," Remus interrupted, "let's go."

"See you later!" James called over his shoulder.

"Bye…Rebekah," Sirius said, giving her a quick-but-dazzling smile. And with a flick of the hair, they were gone.

The four other girls turned to look at Rebekah.

"What?" she cried, trying to look innocent.

"What do you think?" Uranda said monotonically.

Rebekah shrugged. "I don't know."

"Oh God…"

"Well, maybe the fact that you just disappeared with Sirius for the second time!" Becci said.

"In twenty four hours," added Uranda.

"It isn't really a big deal," Nazia said.

"Isn't it?" Uranda cried, turning on her. Nazia shut her mouth.

"Well it isn't!" protested Rebekah, "I mean, so what?"

"Fine," Becci said sharply, "But what did you do?"

"Do?"

"Yeah, I mean, do."

"Oh…" Rebekah said vaguely, "Nothing much…"

"Nothing much?" exclaimed Becci, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I dunno…"

Rebekah sat down next to Katie, who was moodily staring at the ground. She didn't look up.

"What's wrong?" Rebekah asked, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Nothing…" Katie murmured, not altering her gaze.

"No, seriously," she said, "What's the matter?"

Katie didn't answer. Rebekah looked confused.

"Hello? Katie? What-"

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK?" Katie yelled suddenly, jumping to her feet.

Rebekah looked completely taken aback. "What?"

"You know I fancy Sirius!" Katie cried, "You've known for ages! He's the only person I've ever had a crush on, but as soon as you get your chance, you flirt and go all stupid with him, and take him away!"

Rebekah looked lost for words for a moment.

"You fancy him!" she choked, "What about me? I have too, you know!"

"But you haven't liked him for real, like I have!"

"Yeah I have!"

"You've been stalking him! Not fancying him!"

"I do NOT stalk him!" Rebekah yelled.

"Yeah you do!"

"I do-"

"AND you knew he fancied me! Because he DID!" Katie shouted, "You couldn't bare to let me have him! You had to have him all for yourself!"

"You should just deflate your head a bit, Katie!" Rebekah cried, "Maybe then you'd see the whole world doesn't revolve ALL AROUND YOU!"

"Excuse me!" she shouted, "At least I'm not a little mummy's girl who can't bare to be anything but perfect!"

"Hey," Becci said, "Let's not turn this into a rally of insults-"

"WELL AT LEAST I HAVE ANKLES!"

"Oh, just shut up!" Katie retorted.

"Why don't you?"

"Why don't you just stop GIGGLING and FLIRTING and TOUCHING Sirius-"

"TOUCHING SIRIUS? WHEN?"

"ALL THE TIME!"

"Why should I stop? I can do what I like!"

"Look, you two, be quiet!" cried Uranda, standing up as well, "We said we'd never argue about boys, and now-"

"But Rebekah has been out of order," Katie said, "You have to agree with that!"

Uranda hesitated, "…Well, maybe a bit…"

"You're just as bad as her!" Rebekah yelled.

"Yeah, but Rebekah," Uranda began, "You have been going off with him a lot, and, I mean, me and Becci knew they were kind of together-"

"SINCE WHEN?" Rebekah cried, her voice becoming higher and higher pitched.

"Well, them two knew!" Katie said, "You could have at least asked me!"

"So he's your property now, is he?"

"Look," Nazia said slowly, "I think we should all just forget about this and chill out."

"Oh God…" Uranda muttered, "Nazia the peacemaker…"

"But she does have a point!" Becci said.

"So we all just carry on as normal?" Rebekah cried.

"Just relax…" Nazia sighed.

"NO!" shouted Katie and Rebekah.

"No, look," Uranda said, "Maybe we should just-"

"Hey, what's the matter?" asked James, suddenly emerging from the trees with the three other Gryffindors. "We heard shouting."

"Are you alright, Rebekah?" Sirius grinned. The girls all glanced at each other.

"Yes, we are all fine," Uranda said slowly, not sounding very convincing, "Me, Becci, Nazia and Katie are going for a walk. Rebekah's going to stay here…OK?"

The boys nodded, not looking very confident.

"Come on," said Becci, standing up and taking hold of Katie's wrist. "Ciao!" she said to the others, and the four girls trooped off. Remus, James, Peter and Sirius turned to Rebekah and each gave her a funny look.

"What?" she cried.


	13. Blushing in the Bushes

"Enough of you lot telling us that we're lazy… today we're up before you!" said James as the girls emerged out of their tent. The boys were up earlier than them for once and were already dressed with a bright fire conjured up for breakfast.

"Well, unlike someone, I didn't get a very good night's sleep!" said Katie pointedly at Rebekah.

Rebekah turned around indignantly. "What makes you think I had a great sleep?"

"Well, why wouldn't you? You're the one all happy, unlike me, who has some feelings!" snapped Katie.

"That doesn't even make sense!" shouted Rebekah.

"For God's sake, shut up!" interrupted Becci, tired of all the arguing.

"Stop telling us what to do! Just because you're older than us!" said Katie angrily.

"Katie! Becci doesn't mean that!" said Uranda, defending her friend.

"Just because you're in a bad mood doesn't mean to say we should all be!" added Rebekah.

"Oh, so now I'm in the wrong?" said Katie, staring round at them all.

"And who said that?" said Uranda.

"Stop arguing! No one is in the wrong!" said Nazia, upset about all the arguing. The boys, who were unused to the girls' arguing, looked at each other uncomfortably.

Remus cleared his throat. "Um, well.."

"Shut up!" snapped the girls.

"Well, anyway, when you lot have finished," continued Remus, ignoring them, "we need to collect some water."

"What's the point?" asked Becci, who was hurt by Katie's remark. "We have our wands."

"Yeah, well natural water is always better!" said Peter.

"I'll go and get-" Katie and Rebekah started to say at the same time. Everyone looked at them.

"I'm not going with her," said Rebekah bluntly. Katie crossed her arms and turned to look the other way.

Uranda rolled her eyes. "I'll get it."

"Shouldn't someone go with you?" asked Rebekah, looking pointedly at James. All the others looked at James too.

"What?" he asked.

Uranda frowned. "I'm sure I'll manage."

"Um, well, it will be um, dangerous if she goes by herself…" said Peter timidly.

"Well, why don't you go!" said James, for some reason looking angry.

"I don't mind!" shrugged Peter getting up.

"You don't mind, but you going is hardly likely to prevent anyone from danger! I'll go with Uran…" started Nazia.

"Nazia!" said Rebekah, Becci and Katie at the same time in an exasperated tone.

"Well, who else wants to come?" asked Peter looking round. Immediately, everyone became 'busy'. Sirius and Remus began to magic the folding down of the tents and the argument was forgotten momentarily between the girls in order to help Uranda. Becci and Katie began to collect up more firewood, chatting animatedly, while Rebekah got the food out. Nazia was staring around, happy that the girls were friends again. Only James was left sitting there.

"Never mind, we can go. I doubt there's any danger by the river!" Uranda walked over to Peter and grabbed his hand. Peter blushed. "Come on!" Uranda led Peter through the trees to the river that Sirius and Rebekah had previously visited.

James stared at them disbelievingly.

"James, you're really stupid you know!" Everyone had stopped working and turned to look at him.

"What?" snapped James.

"Well," continued Katie, "she so obviously wanted you to go with her, and not Peter!"

"And," carried on Becci, "you so badly wanted to go with her!" Becci and Rebekah started to pack up their duvets into their rucksacks. Nazia began to help.

"You know, I wouldn't mind Uranda being my sister-in-law!" she laughed.

"James would though!" remarked Sirius. The girls laughed while James blushed.

"What's going on between you and Uranda anyway?" asked Remus, prodding the fire, now that the tents were down.

"Nothing," mutter James glumly.

Remus and Sirius raised their eyebrows at each other. "James, we're your best friends; us and Peter. We can't argue over a girl!"

"I'm not arguing!" said James staring at the ground. "I wasn't angry at Peter! It's just Uranda acting like she likes him in front of me! I mean, she held his hand!" James frowned. "Well, I mean, I hope she was acting…"

"So you do fancy her!" said Sirius triumphantly.

"And believe us, she was acting!" said Becci smiling.

"I don't fanc…"

"What is the point in denying it?" asked Rebekah.

"Oh.. God! Don't tell me you want to use her to get back at Lily Evans or something!" said Katie suddenly.

"What! James!" cried Rebekah, Becci and Nazia.

"What? I never even said that! And as if I would do that!" said James angrily.

"He wouldn't," added Remus.

"And, fine. I do like Uranda… more than as a friend! But I can't… you know Lily? When I told her about my feelings towards her, she just hated me… and she still does! I don't want that to happen between me and Uranda!" There was a silence. James looked up. Suddenly everyone started to laugh.

"What?"

Sirius turned to his friend. "Lily hated you because she never even liked you as a person! But Uranda.."

"She's, like, in love…" laughed Becci.

James stopped frowning. "You think..?"

Katie rolled her eyes. "Get up! Go and tell her…"

"…about your feelings!" said Rebekah.

"Oooooohhhhh!" teased the girls.

James stood up slowly, looking uncertain for the first time in his life.

"Oh my God.. James Potter? Actually thinking before doing something?" said Sirius grinning.

James laughed. "Fine, I'll go."

"So how much water do we need?" asked Peter squatting down on the bank.

"Oh, um, enough?" said Uranda unhelpfully, pulling up strands of grass.

"Er… how much is that?"

Uranda smiled. "Ok, sorry." She got up and squatted next to Peter. "Well, I think two saucepan-fulls will be enough. Peter fell silent for a bit while Uranda filled the saucepans. Then-

"Um, you know, you're pretty when you smile…" said Peter nervously.

"Really? Thanks!"

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Uranda laughed. "No! Who would want me?"

"Well, I…. um, didn't Tarik Ali…"

"Huh? He fancied Nazia.."

"He did?" Uranda nodded. "Strange.."

"You're so mean to your sister! A lot of people asked her out you know!"

"Oh.." Peter grinned.

"Lets go back." Uranda stood up and as she turned around, she stumbled on a loose rock. "Argh!" She flung her arms backwards in attempt to stop falling, She managed but..

"Oops!"

Peter was drenched from head to toe. Uranda tried to stop herself from laughing at his face, but didn't quite manage. Peter burst out laughing too.

"Stop laughing!" he said, splashing Uranda with water.

"Hey!" Uranda scooped some water from the river and splashed him back. Soon they had a water fight going on and were both laughing loudly. They only stopped when they heard a noise from the trees. Turning to look, they saw James standing there, looking baffled.

"Oh, it's you," muttered Uranda. James scowled and stormed towards them.

"Wormtail, go back to the others!" he ordered. Peter looked slightly frightened and started to gather up the saucepans, quickly filling them up with water.

"No, Peter, stay!" said Uranda angrily, glowering at James.

"Go!" said James.

"Fine, I'll go with him!" shouted Uranda. Peter looked at them both, not sure at what to do.

"Don't…" said James softly. Uranda's expression softened. Peter glanced from James to Uranda and scurried away.

James turned to Uranda slowly. "Um.. I'm sorry.."

"What? You said sorry!" said Uranda, amazed.

James looked at her. "Please.. lets not argue.."

"I'm not!" interrupted Uranda. "I want to go back to the others!" James grabbed Uranda's hand as she turned around.

"Let go!"

"No! Not until you hear what I have to say!"

Uranda stopped struggling and shook her hand free. "Well?"

"I.."

"You what?"

"Ilikeyou!" he said in a rush… and blushed.

Uranda stopped frowning. "…What?"

James gained more confidence and stared right into Uranda's eyes. "I like you!"

Uranda gave a shaky laugh. "Well, I like you too. I also like Sirius, Remus and Peter.. I even like Kirk and.."

"No!" shouted James desperately. "I mean I like you.. more than a friend!"

"I, oh, urm.. well.." Uranda started to stutter.

James, sensing her shyness quickly kissed her. They broke away, James surprised at what he just did. Uranda, seeing James' face started to laugh.

"Oh, so you're laughing now!" smiled James.

"Only because you look so funny!"

"I'd like to see how you look! Lets try again…"

"Oh ha ha!" said Uranda, pushing James away. Uranda looked seriously at James. "Did you… did you mean what you just said?"

James turned serious too. "Yes. I really like you. Not as a friend," he added quickly.

"But.. what about Lily?"

James rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about her.."

"Oh.." Uranda didn't look convinced.

"Look, I kissed you just then. You're the first girl I kissed. And now," he said, intertwining their hands together. "You're my girlfriend."

"What!" Uranda stopped looking worried and snatched her hand away.

James laughed. "Well, anyway, don't worry about Lily anymore."

Uranda smiled.

"So can I hold your hand now?" said James.

"Well.."

They both jumped as they heard a huge rustle in the trees. Laughing, the girls and the boys fell out onto the bank. It looked as if they were disguising as trees and bushes… not very successfully though, Uranda thought, staring at the few twigs Katie stuck in her hair and the leaves Nazia had decorated her head with.

"Well, hi.." greeted James.

"Hi lovers!" grinned Rebekah.

"Rebekah!" said Uranda, blushing.

"Ahem!" said Sirius loudly. "I like you!"

"Oh, I like you even more!" mimicked Katie.

"I like you more than friend! Let's kiss!" Together they both started to pretend to kiss. James and Uranda blushed bright red.

"Shut up!" muttered James good-humouredly, nudging Sirius.

"Aw, you two are so sweet together!" said Nazia.

Uranda couldn't resist smiling. James smiled too.

"Well, um, lovers! We should go back and cook breakfast now… the show was quite interesting though!" remarked Becci.

"Show?"

"Oh, she means, the love scene.." said Rebekah grinning.

"Hey!" Uranda started to chase Rebekah and Becci back through the trees as they ran away laughing. Katie and Nazia ran after them.

James couldn't stop smiling. "Aww… someone is in love!" teased Remus.

"Congratulations!" said Peter.

James turned to him. "Um, are you ok about this…"

Peter smiled. "I knew Uranda liked you a lot. And I knew you liked her a lot too. Seriously, I'm ok. You two match," he said earnestly.

James smiled. "And we should never argue for a girl right?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, I wonder where I heard that before!" said Sirius.

James put his arm across Sirius' shoulders. "Yeah, fine, I copied you. But it's true!"

"Like you seemed so sure before you told Uranda. You should've seen your face when Uranda held my hand.." said Peter.

"He was about to cry!" remarked Remus.

"Aww… poor 'ickle Jamesipoo…" cooed Sirius.

"Oi!"


End file.
